Why being caught in a Casual Loop is best to be avoided: I
by LittleRuky
Summary: The Strawhats know that it's not in Luffy's nature to refuse an adventure, but the shady man offering it should have raised some valid questions. Stranded in the Void Century with only Robin as a makeshift guide and only means to communicate, they can maybe handle. But getting caught up in a global-scale military conflict that shapes history is definitely where Nami draws the line.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my story for the opbigbang 2017. I will post daily, sometimes a couple of chapters a day until it is finished. This is only the first part of a much larger story, but due to time being a more of a luxury at this stage in the semester and, well, year I was not able to finish all of it. So you will have to do with the first part for now.**

 **This is setting up for the second part and it has many aspects which can easily make it an AU so beware of that. But in my defense, I tried to make it as canon-compliant as I could until I started with the assumptions and theories. So yes, an AU with many assumptions that I hope make sense. If not, let your imagination fly! That's what I did and I had real fun with it.**

 **Other warnings: foul language and OCs.**

 **Also, to clear up any confusion:**

 **writing like this -** is in a another language

writing like this - is in normal language

 **No, you haven't been spoiled. What are you possibly talking about? *whistles nervously***

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Land ho!"

The captain's head snaps up immediately from the process of devouring his new acquisition – a piece of meat fresh from Sanji's frying pan. He has only been so lucky to snatch it because Nami was distracting the cook with enough of her feminine charms. It enabled Luffy to be able to sneak inside and steal one, lovely and succulent, though still partially raw piece of meat. Still, he has his doubts on whether Sanji has let him off the hook this time around or the blond was really _that_ distracted by the sight of Nami in a semitransparent top. Either way, he has been content with munching on it with the usual fervor in the face of such an early meal until Zoro's shout caused an outbreak of adrenaline and thirst for adventure to surge through his veins.

"What island is that, Nami?" Chopper's head pokes curiously from the doorway of the infirmary.

Luffy's eyes trail over to the orange haired woman and find her leaning against the railing with an unusually confused frown on her face.

"While it does appear on the map I stole the other day," the navigator begins slowly, eyes never leaving the growing mass of land splayed in front of her, "it doesn't really have a name. So I thought it might not be here at all, just a paper island or something." She trails off uncertainly.

"What's that?" Luffy pipes up from his place on the swing. "An island made of paper?"

Nami points a manicured finger down at the large canopy spread over three barrels. "On big scale maps such as this one the cartographers invent them to avoid others making a copy off of it and getting away with it." She pinches the bridge of her nose at the lost expression on her captain's face. "It's like a signature."

"Oh, so that's what it was! So let's go to the signature island then!" The pirate captain jumps off the wooden seat and throws his arms in the air in his usual ready-for-trouble style.

"You sure it doesn't have a name?" Zoro asks from up above as he leisurely makes his way toward the grassy deck, leaving to Usopp the supervision of their last few miles until they get near enough to the shore.

Nami feels the beginning of an eye twitch, but she struggles to answer as calmly as possible. "Yes. _Very._ "

"Then we'll find it out when we arrive." The swordsman sighs tiredly and drops down near the railing for a quick nap.

"I suppose research is in order?"

The navigator jumps slightly at the voice coming from the bodiless mouth somehow attached to her shoulder, but smiles nonetheless.

"I guess so."

She can imagine the rare, excited grin on the other woman's face.

* * *

"It's kinda'," a pregnant pause, " _deserted_ , you know?" Usopp glances at the desolate street with desperation and dread building up inside his chest.

He can already feel his invented sickness acting up, not to mention the overwhelming feeling of pressure pushing down on his shoulders. It's like he is suddenly carrying a thousand invisible kilos just by smelling the slightly musty air that has a tang of copper. It spells nothing but dead bodies on their hands, he's sure. The dust scratches his face rather painfully and he is sure that two more steps will send enough vibrations through the earth to bring down one of the many shabby wooden houses lining the street on both sides.

"There sure isn't anyone around." Robin also remarks, looking contrastingly unconcerned and at ease. She slides one finger over a decaying advertisement board that groans under the soft pressure of her touch. "We should find a bar."

"This is like the classical horror story, guys!" The sniper whispers fearfully, trying in vain to attract his friends' attention, but only succeeding in scaring Chopper and Brook. "And I don't think a bar will hold anything else other than dead bodies…"

"Are you sure it was fine leaving the Sunny all alone, bro?" Franky shouts from the back of the group, his posture predictably tense in light of the constant worry of leaving his beloved ship all alone in that desolate port. These heinous thoughts circle through his head without respite and Franky _hates_ it.

"Yep!" Luffy grins widely, stepping over the carcass of a dead animal a little too nonchalantly for the crew's overstressed sniper. "Don't worry! Sunny will be fine! We should have fun, too-"

" _How_? When there's no bar anywhere in this crap city." Zoro grumbles, his face a few shades darker because of the aforementioned fact. "We better find some dead people at least-"

Sanji snorts in contempt. "Serves you right. And don't go around throwing words like that or we're going to have to deal with Usopp's mumbles all the way through."

"I believe we should be able to find one, Zoro-san." Brook breaks in before anyone else can express their disappointment at the dilapidated state of their new discovery or the very real possibility that a mountain of corpses is waiting for them. Or, hell, even start a fight.

A bony finger points down the street.

Nami squints to make out exactly what their musician is showing them.

"That's-" Her eyes wide and already livelier than a moment before, she double checks the rectangle hanging on the wall of a house, swinging in the passing breeze with a furious series of _crick-cracks_.

"Finally!" The green haired swordsman almost throws his hands up in the air as he resolutely marches down the street.

Luffy and Usopp jog to catch up with him with the others closely following behind.

"This doesn't look like much." Usopp whispers as he hears the door creak closed behind them.

When his eyes finally adjust, he takes in the overly shadowy room that exudes a foul odor of alcohol that no doubt permeates everything from the equally shabby interior and its filthy looking occupants seated around a few low tables. The wooden bar is cracked and torn in a few places and the bottles aligned behind on bended shelves are half buried under a mound of dust and trash. The liquids inside don't look all that inviting either.

"Hey, Zoro." Luffy's voice seems too loud in the ultra silence and it's almost eerie under the distrustful gazes of the few patrons. "Is this a bar?" His voice gets higher by the end, as if intimidated of the glares thrown his way.

Zoro grunts something unintelligible and plops down in a seat at the bar, already in the middle of ordering something. It seems that their swordsman doesn't mind the unusual establishment that exceeded even the pirate bars they usually frequent. The door swings open again to reveal the way more inviting outside and closes just as quietly and solemnly as during their entrance.

"What... is this?" Nami's eyes are unfocused as they move frantically, raking in the room at large while her nose slightly scrunches up reflexively in distaste.

"I think this is a good place to find some answers." Robin nods resolutely, more to herself.

A couple of patrons shift in their seats in a familiar way that reminds her of the warning currents before a fight for territory would ensue. She has seen it all so many times before, it feels almost ordinary in this unordinary piece of land they just stumbled upon.

"... Here?" Chopper's voice is as broken as Usopp's heart.

"I doubt it, Robin." Nami begins quickly with determination, already alarmed by the multitude of glares and suspicious stares pointed in their direction full of something bad and something _worse_ that it gives her goose bumps just standing in their wake. "We should-"

"You oughta' listen to her!"

Suddenly and without preamble as it usually happens in such circumstances and places of gathering, someone – or God forbid _something_ – erupts from a table next to a roughly boarded up window that still has a few traces of glass shards hanging limply from its termite eaten frame. The voice is atypically high and light for someone who'd usually be found in this kind of place and certainly misplaced the age the younglings considered the figure to have.

Luffy looks at his battle-ready companions with amusement and ignores his mounting uncertainty. They are sometimes such scared cats!

"You got some information for us then, old man?" The pirate captain lets his easygoing grin take the lead and proceeds to walk towards the table despite the many gestures from his friends to not do that. He can deal with whatever will arise and besides – they were only a few feet away from him!

The man at the table grins widely. It is the only thing not shadowed by the mainstream black hood draped over his head. His overall appearance shifts to something slightly more savage, though, as he stands there hunched over a table full of glasses and tall towers of food leftovers.

"Sure I have." His tone is more than delighted. "I heard you kids want to go on a grand adventure!"

Against Nami's rapidly growing feeling of fear, Luffy simply beams and almost jumps on the table in his hurry to make the man spill the beans. Anyone who offers an adventure is less of a villain in his books.

"Hell, yeah!" The sparkle in Luffy's eyes brings a foreboding sense of alarm even to the most clueless crewmate. "What's it about?"

"You know what guys? I don't think we should..." Usopp trails off as his eyes dart between the duo at the corner table and Zoro. The swordsman is now approaching them with feline grace that undermines a dangerous aura that usually serves to make people forcibly back down.

Hooded Man simply doesn't seem to get the message. "Oh, I've got a special one just for y- _ou_!"

"Alright now, this is getting super creepy-"

"And this is not even that time of the year yet." Franky says over Usopp's garbled sentence.

"What can you even offer in this shit-filled hole of a place?" Zoro growls with eyes too lucid for someone who has probably drunk two bottles of stale liquor in quick succession just under a minute ago.

" _Eh_ , no time! What'd ya' say captain? Ready to bring it up a notch?!"

Sanji's hands move to get Robin and Nami out of the way first, but he is a few seconds too slow. Their clueless captain shouts ' _Yes'_ way before the man has fully finished what he has to say and he curses that son of a bitch for being in so much damn hurry and never taking the time to listen to sense first. Danger always rides with them because of this and the cook realizes with a horrifying chill that the rest of them are slowly taking after Luffy in this aspect.

They are nine, though. So an old man shouldn't be such a big deal. Zoro is nearest and he can easily deal with him. It isn't like the stupid moss head hasn't dealt with things like this before. Shady, obscure drunks like this old man that take a sudden and sick interest in their captain are few and far between, but always offering adventures of all kinds that Luffy never has to know about.

But the rest of them have been informed about it in some instances, when one of them has really overstepped it and Zoro's temper had reached a boiling point Sunny's boiler would be jealous of. Sanji knows the guy keeps locked and buried the kind of unhealthy rage that comes with primal instincts, but he is certain that Zoro has to struggle to keep it at bay sometimes. So he is glad that after weeks on end of drifting and navigating the ocean, these poor saps come unabashed to address them because this is one effective way to let him explode and their world – the opinion of those who really matter like Nami and Chopper and _Luffy_ – will remain perfectly intact. Because what is the world without a couple of suicidal scumbags that dare bring up the Paramount War or a City of Gold when Sanji knows there is one where they are heading to anyway. They just have to wait a damn bit more for their captain to be ready for Raftel, that's all.

"This is getting old." Sanji mutters when he feels the lit cigarette slip from between his lips.

Zoro's form minus his odd hair is obscured now by a strange beam of light that comes from something the man is holding and he realizes with mind numbing certainty that Luffy is nowhere now. He tightens his grip on Nami and Robin and feels both respond in turn and he only has time to hope that the cigarette will light this shack on fire before he finds that they are shrouded in a sea of black with only the vivid, stark, white image of that obnoxious and – dare he say, manic – grin behind his possibly closed eyelids. After that everything fades away from him.

* * *

Usopp jumps up almost as soon as he gets some feeling back in his brain and limbs. His head moves left and right rapidly, eyes trying to focus on his surroundings, but mostly coming up foggy. The sniper stops when the first signs of vertigo and the pulsing of a headache have become simply impossible to ignore anymore and simply lays sprawled on the grass, trying to clear his mind. They've been in some possible Hell, a bare nothingness that had him suffocating way before he actually registered that he couldn't see and feel anything. Way before he had even set foot into it. Around the time he had been complaining which was most of the time. But it was mostly because he felt like that island was going to drain him of every speck of life he had and his instincts never ceased screaming to duck, run and _kill_.

The grass tickles his ears and he opens his eyes to a clear blue that scars his retinas before his crumpled brain figures it out.

" _Grass_?!" The long nosed pirate shrieks, definitely not giving a damn about his health this time around as he jumps upright and takes a few cautious steps backwards.

Sharp eyes finally find more than a sea of green color around him. And he knows that he is definitely in a forest. A damn big forest with all kinds of plant life that could have easily fooled him into believing that he is back on the Boin Archipelago. But he has enough mind left to analyze the cold, hard facts. For one, the smell and sounds of the jungle are slightly different than he is used to, not to mention that he would have been wild animal food by now had he laid down there for more than two hours in that unmerciful jungle. So it is entirely possible that this isn't that kind of raw wilderness. Or he is simply somewhere the animals would stay clear of.

"Something. Or some _one._ Like a settlement?" The whisper carries on with the breeze and Usopp has to put a mental stop to the thought before he starts analyzing the other possibility – the dark, bloody lair of an equally horrifying monster.

But at another look, it isn't and he is simply surrounded by trees. Swaying trees with large crowns and a minimal amount of birds flying in and out of them. He can barely hear their song, as if the whole forest is holding its breath.

"So..." The slight echo gives him the creeps, but he has to pretend to be sane somehow so he continues. "This smell-"

It is definitely different, but at the same time familiar, like he's smelt it for such a long time. Usopp pauses as his mind finally processes the thought and draws to the shameful conclusion that the mystery smell – damn this sounds so Luffy-like, even inside his head – is, in fact, salt. More specifically – sea salt. And yes, he's been smelling the damn thing for quite a long time now in his otherwise relatively short pirating career.

"Damn! I've been so focused on the Boin Archipelago that I forgot to pay attention to the smell!" Usopp slaps his forehead in defeat and wills his leaden feet to move towards the source of the breeze. He now knows why the smell is different from the Boin jungle, too. Due to the dense vegetation and him training as near the centre of the island as he possibly could and not fall into the mouth of the carnivorous plant that made up the body of the island itself, this kind of smell barely passed through so his mind did not associate it with the carnivorous island to begin with.

"Where could the others be, though?"

The words barely escape his mouth before he finds himself stepping through the thick line of trees and into a completely different place. It is like one of those vast plains he sometimes reads about in one of the books he likes to sneak from the library. But he can still spot the ocean above the tall blades of green and small bushes scattered all over. Three vertical stripes of grey cut through the darker hue of blue and he knows he has hit the jackpot. If there is a village, then it means that there is food, which in turn means that meat is definitely part of the menu. And where meat is, his captain is three times over – with his stomach, mind and appetite.

* * *

Nami knew that they are in big trouble the moment she first climbed over that messily built fence these people like to call protection. The houses – oh, don't get her started. No matter how unkempt they could get or how messy the villagers could ever be, they are built with stone and straws. There are no definite windows besides small cuts with colorful glass attached when the molten earth had still been liquefied and nothing else attested that living in one of these is at the very least comfortable. But the real problem – and she has kept the complaints to a minimum until now! – is that they are as equally strangely shaped too. As if they have melted off in some bizarre heat.

Two steps in and she was already the definite outsider with her choice of clothing and the villagers weren't making it any easier with all their staring.

Not being one to be self-conscious in such situations, Nami had squared her shoulders and decided to let them be. She had more important things to take care of, like finding some clues about their location and possibly a restaurant.

Nami inwardly hopes these _tribals_ or whatever they are supposed to be, have one at least and not for the first time thinks that Robin will certainly be delighted to have found such a secluded and untouched culture – whatever this culture with a funny style of building houses is.

The navigator grits her teeth as she tries to keep her shaking knees steady, hoping that the wave of whatever is assaulting her will pass already. It is bad already that she is the bad man here, she doesn't need to let herself look weak. That will give them the opening they need and an advantage and Nami knows from hard earned experience that to survive in the world of pirates there is no place for those weak and quaking with fear.

Her honey gaze wanders over to the side and she tries not to stare at the minimally dressed women who seem to be keen on wearing a straw skirt and a mixture of leaves and leather bound together over their breasts. Thankfully, the males are infinitely more dressed and tattooed, something that makes Nami wearier over her seemingly leisure walk. Most aren't regarding her in a friendly manner, but at least they aren't outright attacking her. Glares she can deal with. At least she is somehow blending in with only her bra as a top, but curses her hesitation for putting on a skirt that morning instead of her jeans. Then her problems would have been half cut.

Most importantly now, she has to find the place from where that infernal rhythm of a melody is coming from. She doesn't think that these people were artistic – just look at those houses! – but the song sounds too broken and off-key to even be considered an attempt. So this means that they didn't have guitars here.

Smiling to herself, Nami follows the trail of random sounds to its core. She finds it in the form of her crewmate laying on the ground unmoving while the villagers gathered around his body prod gleefully at the strange instrument with wonder worthy of little kids. Her feet stop as soon as the points of her flats touch Brook's side and she stares in confusion for a minute before she realizes that, yes, as much alive as he seemed to her now, Brook is still a _skeleton_. So surely walking around in a primordial village where death is the final door will no doubt land him in more trouble than it was worth. Nodding at the good conduit, the navigator steps forward. She is planning to at least save her friend's possessions from the overly curious people.

"He's with me, don't worry!" Her words are meant to be reassuring but all she gets in return are suspicious and guarded glares.

 _At least they let go of Brook's guitar._

Nami lifts her hands up in a gesture of peace, the smile slowly sliding off her face as helplessness makes its way through. Her gaze drops to her Clima-Tact, reassuringly strapped to her thigh, before lifting up toward a group of approaching men. They brandish their long spears in a pointedly warning manner at her and Nami feels sweat gather on her forehead. She doesn't have the time or inspiration to plan an escape route, but she is pretty sure there won't be one. These locals don't seem to mind making the women or children fight.

Her brow furrows when the one standing at the front of the group starts shouting at her in gibberish. She has never heard this kind of language before. It sounds broken, though somehow still melodic. Maybe it is a dialect? _A dialect of what, exactly?_

The man starts gesturing wildly and the orange haired woman gulps when the group starts advancing from all sides. Well, that was it for playing it safely, she concludes and draws her weapon, preparing to pump the heat and cool balls into the atmosphere.

"May I be of service, Nami-san?"

The navigator's eyes grow wide at the sight of the musician, keeping a tight clutch on four struggling tribals. Disembodied arms suddenly burst from the ground like flowers of hope and entrap the other five. Nami grins when her surroundings gradually descend into an incomprehensible madness, but she is too busy searching for Robin to mind it much.

"I'm here." The black haired woman steps away from her hiding spot behind a half fallen house. Her face is tight and Nami takes it as a sure sign that this situation is not at all resolved even if they've somehow managed to overpower the gibbering creeps.

"Robin!" Either way, she is relieved to see her friends. "Did you find the others?"

The archaeologist nods gravely. "I have. Come with me. You are the last ones to arrive." One corner of her mouth lifts as she watches Brook's struggles to recuperate his guitar from the tribe's people.

"Where are we, Robin?" Nami fearfully whispers, already too afraid of the answer to bother helping their bony crewmate.

"If my assumptions are correct then in another place and time altogether. Our dear sniper almost had a mental breakdown because of this. So I suggest we return to the meeting point before any explanation is to commence." Robin smiles without any warmth or reassurance, more of a reflex really, and waves a hand in Brook's direction, gesturing him to follow them. She finally grimaces.

"It will be a little hard to digest."

Nami's stomach plummets.

* * *

"So I suppose they were only trying to bring Nami-san here?" Brook asks as he seats himself down on the carpet covered ground of the small hut they have found the rest of their friends stuck into. More like stashed, really.

He is not at all surprised to see Luffy munching on a piece of half cooked meat, but their navigator made sure to scold the raven haired pirate for even trying to act in character in such a precarious situation. Though the musician assumes it is her way of dealing with everything she has seen until now. He is surely still digesting it, but is ironically, tremendously curios at the same time to hear all about it.

And, dare he say it even inside his empty skull with Nami still in the room? All but ready for whatever adventure that shady man back at the bar has promised them.

"We can very well be on the same island, but another part of it." Sanji offers, inhaling greedily from a cigarette. He looks worse for the wear with twigs and grass in his hair and dirt all over his suit. "Maybe we have encountered the wrong culture..."

"Yes, the culture where your ass will be beaten by the same women you so gleefully ogle." Zoro cackles haughtily, clearly enjoying every minute of the cook's misery. "I must say, I kinda' like them."

"You damned algae brain shouldn't-"

"Would you shut it up already?!" Nami glares at the bickering duo even though they've barely said a third of their usual snark before intervention should be required. Her arms tighten around her quivering form and she looks in desperate need of a calming cup of tea.

Usopp places a reassuring hand on her shoulder, not looking any better, but certainly able to handle the situation. _Now_. It didn't help that he has been the second one to arrive after Robin. Thankfully, the woman was able to convince the village leader that they were not in any way a threat to them. He still doesn't know how she managed that when they spoke a completely different language.

"Maybe it's a dialect?" Chopper tries to take the smoother road.

"C'mon buddy, you understand any of it?" Usopp finds himself asking, throwing a curious glance at the reindeer. To his discouragement, his friend only looks down and shakes his head. The rest of their friends don't bother to launch any helpful comments to that.

"Then it's not animal." The sniper sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. He looks over to Robin, her expression shuttered and realizes that their archaeologist knows more than she lets on. "You understand any of it, Robin?" He repeats his question a second time.

Robin startles from her thoughts and observes the tightly packed group with the sort of allusive silence that signals bad news. The sad smile she allows to melt her earlier frown is the cross on their dug grave.

"No, but you are right, Usopp. It _is_ a dialect."

The sniper blinks in surprise at the information.

"You are never going to believe where we are."

"How are you so sure we are where you think we are?" Usopp immediately counters, feeling a new sickness assault him.

"I don't doubt miss historian, but..." Franky trails off, not sure what to present in hopes of bringing their spirits up.

"So where're we?" Luffy quips from behind the many clay plates stacked in front of him. Usopp eyes him with mounting jealousy. "Future or another planet?"

"This is _not_ funny, Luffy!" Chopper exclaims, horrified as his captain should be.

"Past actually." Robin's answer makes Nami groan and Usopp is already in the midst of developing the possible symptoms his new sickness is capable of.

"Oh." Luffy almost looks _disappointed_. "How far then?"

"You don't look half remorseful for getting us in this shit, you selfish asshole!" Sanji explodes, his hands clenching and unclenching in the act of strangling air.

"Go cry about it somewhere else, swirly." Zoro grumbles, moving away from the blond pointedly.

Sanji clicks his tongue and leans back on the hard wall, arms crossed over his chest in silent mutiny.

"Isn't it bad, though?" Franky interrupts before Robin can answer. "I mean, we could be changing something!"

"That's the last of our problems." The archaeologist answers easily. "When I arrived here, I didn't know what to make of this either. This... _language_." She explains patiently. "But after walking around for a bit, I did find a single stone embed with very familiar characters. And then I started to realize. That this is really the place. That man..." Robin trails off, her narrowed eyes flashing with frustration. "I don't know what he wants from us."

A small, brown notebook is lifted into the tense, stale air and everyone understands what characters she is referring to.

"You're saying that these people speak the ancient language." Brook concludes, suddenly breathless even though he doesn't have any lungs. His shoulders hunch along with the rest of his friends' as the true weight of the situation finally descends upon them.

"Yes, but even though I can read it – the language they speak doesn't make any sense to me either. Only after I found the tablet and started paying attention, but it's hard. Making sense of it…" Robin nibbles at her lower lip with worry.

"So that's why you think it's a dialect!" Usopp's eyes widen at the realization.

The historian nods. "I believe so. This village is small and it does look remote enough, so I did not concern myself with understanding everything. I assume that the language written on the Poneglyphs is the grammatical one."

"So how did you make the village leader understand you, then?" Nami inquires, doubtful and still fearing for their future, as strange as it sounds.

"I used the written language. He knows how to read and then I found out that he knew some of our words as well so we managed to understand each other all right." Robin inclines her head from left to right. "I hope."

Chopper and Franky deflate at the last part.

"What are we going to do?" Usopp is the one to pose the question after another prolonged silence. "The others sure don't look like they understand us. This communication barrier is just too tough!"

"Stay here and figure out a way to go back!" Nami cries out in a no-nonsense tone to the sniper's question. "If even one guy knows some words then we'll have to make it work and go back!"

"Of course not!" Luffy bursts back, suddenly indignant. He stands up, causing the plates gathered at his feet to clatter. "We're going on the adventure that old man was talking about!"

"We don't even know what that fucking creep wanted in the first place!" Sanji raises his voice accordingly.

"And where are we even going?" Franky asks breezily. "We don't know how the world is right now and we don't even have the Sunny with us!" The cyborg sniffs, the corners of his eyes already wet. His worry for the ship has been exchanged with outright panic at the thought of Sunny being left in that miserable port all alone on that island full of degenerates.

"Exactly!" Nami nods resolutely. "I don't know what the deal is with these people, but we should use every moment we have to try and figure out a way back-"

"Hell, no! We're leaving this place." Zoro interrupts and frowns when his declaration is met with glares from the unwilling ones. "We're never going to be able to find anything worthwhile in this dump!"

Luffy grins through his freshly started meal. A disturbing image indeed. "That's right! We gotta take a tour around-"

"With what?" Usopp insists, though a plan is already forming inside his mind by the time Luffy finishes chewing and stops long enough to start pouting. He makes a mental note to watch out for a new wave of nonsensical violence that will inevitably result in the near future judging by Zoro's thunderous expression. Maybe make sure that this time Chopper won't be _almost_ able to find out about it. They don't need that kind of scare again.

"I will ask the village leader." Robin ends their argument swiftly. "Now there's only the problem of finding a way out of this place."

* * *

" **I'm afraid you will not be able to leave for the capital without a proper boat** _ **.**_ No boat, no leave."

Robin nods at the scratched message and short words as she scribbles down something in return.

" **Where can we have one?** "

The old man shakes his head, making the many trinkets he is wearing jingle along with the movement. Nami eyes the tattooed, feather-covered man in apprehension and wonders silently if this man can really understand what they are saying. And if so, why he would help strange people such as them. Even by normal standards, the Strawhat pirates are out of the grid of weirdness.

"Must come from capital."

The navigator appreciates that he is at least trying.

Robin purses her lips at the words. " **When?** "

The village leader takes a while to answer, choosing to consult with a few younger men standing respectfully behind him. When he finally starts scribbling, Robin tries hard to contain her anxious shifting from foot to foot and not allow her impatience show through.

" **We hope that next week at the latest.** "

The archaeologist squints at the last word, but she nods again nevertheless.

"He says that we'll have to wait a week for a boat from 'the capital' to come pick us up." She announces, mildly annoyed herself at the unfavorable news. Just when they have all decided to go along with Luffy's plan and take a look at this world, this happens. And now they are stuck here waiting and hoping.

"Can't they give us a boat?" Usopp tries to reason with the older man, but the only thing he gets is a sharp shake of the head and a warning glare from the other. The sniper sighs.

"Or maybe a map or something." Nami also urges her friend to ask more.

Knowing it was better they are aware of this, Robin writes eagerly on a fresh page of her notebook.

" **Can we have a boat from you?** "

The villager leader's eyebrows shoot up in obvious surprise.

" **We have only small ones. Do you know where to go if we give you one?** "

"They only have small ones." Robin translates absently, ignoring the unintelligible question that follows in favor of penning in the next item on their list.

" **Map?** "

" **None.** "

"Well?" Sanji prods, already anticipating the answer.

"They cannot give us a boat and without it I doubt that we would not sink even with Nami's amazing skills. Much less find the capital of this place." The archaeologist sighs and thanks the old man verbally.

"You stay. For now."

Robin smiles. " **Thank** **you** _ **.**_ "

"We should learn more about them then." Brook offers his input, startling the villagers gathered around.

Luffy snickers at their apprehensive faces.

"Sounds good. If the old man lets us stay, we'll stay!" The raven head grins widely in the leader's direction and is hesitantly sent one in return.

The pirate captain takes it as a positive sign and is out of the door of the small hut in seconds.

"I guess _someone_ needs to keep an eye on him." Usopp scratches the back of his head as he turns on his heels, already resigned to his fate as their captain's babysitter.

* * *

 _2 DAYS LATER_

" **Thank you for the clothing.** "

The old man smiles at the writing and shakes his head. He mumbles something in that language of his that Nami cannot make any sense of, but remains silent and reserved overall.

Ever since their arrival, the villagers have treated them better than what they expected of uncivilized – by their standards – people. They allowed them to explore the settlement and its surroundings and also offered them a deformed hut to sleep in. Which wasn't such an amazing experience with Zoro's constant snoring, Luffy's random limb flailing or Sanji's perverted dreams that were constantly expressed through barely incoherent mumbles during his sleep. And then there was the food. Sweet Lord, their meals were divided between two extremes, with Sanji stuck right in the middle and suffering from severe cooking deprivation. He was not allowed by the local cooks to touch anything in the rudimental kitchen they were preparing meals in for the whole village, but the blond had snuck up to watch and maybe steal some recipes. Bottom line was – the food was either too undercooked for anyone but Luffy's taste, which seemed to be traditional in overcast and rainy days. Or it was on a whole new level of exotic goodness in sunny ones.

Nami wonders how a war hasn't started between their captain and the other starving folks at meal time.

Also, now they have been given clothes – tribal clothes for tribe people, but a fresh change of clothes nonetheless. Which is a real God-sent mercy.

On her part, Nami has kept her flowery bra on and only exchanged her jeans for a traditional dress – as Robin has put it. The tribe women did not hesitate in braiding and adorning her hair with flowers. Robin has received the same treatment, but the older woman has chosen not to change out of her short jacket and long skirt.

"What should we do now?" Chopper asks from his spot on the grass. Next to the reindeer, Usopp and Luffy are lying on the ground, staring at the clouds passing by with a mixture of boredom and wistfulness. They both have straw coats over their normal clothes that are a little too thick for this warm weather.

"Oh my, only two days and you're already bored?" Robin gazes at the two with mounting amusement.

"This looks _super_ on me!" Franky's shout causes a flock of birds to fly out of a nearby tree. The cyborg twists around to observe his new straw coat better.

"Indeed we are very fashionable!" Brook readily agrees, patting his feather-decorated hat. "Now we really are the _straw_ hat pirates! Yohoho!"

Luffy snickers at the pun while Nami can't help but roll her eyes.

"Oi, Luffy! You took a look at the island already?" Zoro lays down in front of his captain's sprawling limbs, having a little difficulty with the mountain of straws on his back.

"Nope! We only got to the end of the forest." The rubber man answers easily, gaze still pinned to the sky.

The green haired man lifts an eyebrow. "And what did you find on the other side?"

"Nothing." Usopp groans, turning on his side to face the swordsman. "There is only a small plane bare of any trees before a forest starts up again. There are a few mountains in the distance, but that's as far as I could make out. And then we found a river somewhere in there too, when we were coming back."

Nami frowns as she takes in the towering trees circling them. "Huh. That's unusual for an island."

"I'm starting to have my doubts that this is an island at all." Robin sighs despondently, even her usual confidence strangely low in the tone of her voice. Her fingers comb through her hair as she continues leafing through the small notebook propped on her knees.

"Then are we on the Red Line or what?" Zoro looks at her expectantly, but the archaeologist simply shrugges, her attention never straying away from her studies.

"Great! No map, no idea where we are and this might not be even an island!" Nami throws her hands up in the air, exasperated. "This just keeps getting better and better!"

"Don't worry, Nami- _swan_! I will find a way out of this creepy ass place." Sanji hastens to reassure her, even though the words sounded all but that even to his own ears.

A distinguishable set of strange sounds alert the pirates of new visitors. Robin glances up to see a mixed group of men and women, some of them with kids, watching them back carefully but not unkindly. They seem to be debating something amongst themselves before one with a snake tattoo steps away from the crowd.

" **Would you like to know more about our language?** Language... learn?"

Surprise courses through her, but she is not about to decline a free lesson on the ancient language of the Void Century. Especially since it is very much confirmed that they have ended up here and still have to survive first before even hoping to find a way to get back.

The archaeologist nods once in his direction before she turns to address her companions. Even though they must have made sense of the situation from the two broken, familiar words. "They wish to teach us their language."

Predictably, Luffy is the first one to jump at the suggestion, happy and glad to have finally found something to do. Usopp is equally as eager and Robin knows that the sniper has a certain affinity to learning languages that no one – much less Usopp – knows about. She found out about it the day after she had accidentally left her notebook with annotations on the ancient language on the galley's table one night. She had come back for it the next morning to find Usopp already in the middle of figuring out how to build a simple sentence. Since then, she had encouraged him in this prospect, but he seemed to shy away every time. But now it is a golden opportunity to learn something very useful, dialect or not and she is definitely part of the willing group.

Seeing their overall positive attitude, the villagers approach the group devoid of any of the earlier suspicion and reservation. They divide themselves amongst them into small factions in order to start the language lessons, though Robin isn't sure how everything is supposed to go.

Sanji takes one long look at the enthusiasm Chopper, Usopp, Luffy and Robin- _chwan_ are exuding then glances away at the sound of Nami- _swans_ 's dejected sigh to _marimo_ 's jungle-worthy grunt and growls under his breath. He so isn't in the mood. It would have been better to just be able to slouch off and not have to be in anyone's company, but that is impossible now.

It will be a long week.

"Let's get _suuupperrr_!"

Beginning right about now.

Surprised squeals and shouts accompany Franky's declaration before the musical tunes of Brook's guitar overshadow them in volume.

* * *

"Robin."

At the sound of her name, the archaeologist looks up from her chat with a village woman. She spots the leader of the settlement as he somberly makes his way towards her. More out of reflex gained from years of experience, the black haired woman does a quick sweep of her surroundings locating each of her friends, but she sees only Zoro and Nami remained after they finished their meal.

The swordsman is taking one of his usual naps on a large pile of dried grass while the orange haired woman is using her drawing skills to entertain a group of little children. Both navigator and first mate have been able to catch up on the language pretty fast. Which is one big surprise in the green haired man's case. Usopp didn't let her down this time either. The sniper is already able to converse in short sentences with the natives and it is clear that he likes to learn new words. The others aren't doing half bad, but they still have trouble keeping Luffy in place long enough to learn something else besides 'meat' and 'fun' – he actually wanted to know 'adventure', but even Robin had trouble describing the word to the villagers since it isn't one she sees often and the books that contain such details remain on the Sunny back in their time.

" **Yes?** "

The old man smiles, now accustomed to the strange bunch that haw literally stumbled on his village's doorstep just six days ago.

" **A ship from the Capital's been spotted. The men called it over so you'll be able to leave.** Ship, leave. Soon."

The archaeologist purses her lips but nods, returning his smile with a grateful one of her own. She still hasn't managed to catch everything the man has said, but she got the main idea. " **Understand. Will tell my friends. Thank you.** "

The leader inclines his head in acknowledgement and retraces his steps back through the village proper.

"Nami, we have to-"

"Yeah, we heard him. Or at least, tried to." She pouts. "That guy speaks so damn fast!"

The ginger haired woman hums happily as she finishes her latest piece of art on the ground and stands up, dusting her reclaimed jeans. She grins widely and Robin's mind amusedly remembers the circus yesterday when Nami barely managed to save her pants from the clutches of the village women by talking and gesturing widely an array of cuss words and threats so typical of her. But she has been as happy as a five year old that had managed to do an errand on her own and Robin knows that and opts instead to jut a thumb over her shoulder in the direction the swordsman has supposedly been sleeping in, only now it is deserted.

"I see that Zoro's taking care of it. Ah," the navigator sighs as she catches up with her friend, "I'm dying to know more about this world. At leastnow."

There is the unspoken gratitude of late nights filled with homesick tears in a time the world isn't been kind to them – but it is still home. Sunny is home and they've abandoned her there.

"Me too." The black haired woman agrees easily. She has been preparing herself for this, knows that they have to get out of here if only to catch a glimpse of an extinct point in time. Even so, her eyes narrow on the barely noticeable speck on the horizon. "I cannot help but think that being sent here is more than just for laughs."

Nami hugs herself, does not want to think about what that super creep wanted with them. She has kicked herself over it too many times already to feel anything but a pang of dull pain where the wound still aches. She steels herself anyway and lets her eyes narrow with renewed challenge.

"Yeah. I suppose so."

"Nami! Robin! Where are they?!" Luffy's shouts echoes over the shoreline and makes way for a consistent group composed of the rest of their crewmates to approach.

Nami watches her captain with amusement as he tries in vain to converse with a native. Though speaking with him is stretching it since Luffy can and will only say one word.

" **Meat!** Yeah, bring me some me- **meat**... please?" The rubber man scratches his head and pouts when the only answer the local is inclined to give him is a snort and a shake of the head with a few muttered words accompanying his departure that Luffy can't understand.

"Man! They don't know how to be friendly!"

"I think it's your fault, shithead. Asking them for meat non-stop does that kind of thing to people..." Sanji mumbles around his cigarette, wondering how he wasn't having adverse reactions at hearing that blasted word over and over again, thousands of times a week.

"Zoro said something about a ship. Where is it?" Chopper looks around anxiously, but can't spot anything resembling one. So he decides to climb onto Franky's steady shoulders for a better look and lets out a delighted squeal when he finally sees their ticket out of here.

"It's still far away, but it will come." Robin assures Chopper, patting his head.

"Yohoho! Finally, we begin our adventure!" Brook strums a few notes on his guitar jovially.

"Yeah, can't wait!" Usopp only half jokes, wringing his hands anxiously. "Thought this week was never going to end."

"I'm sure the capital will be _super_!" Franky can't contain his trademark yell in the reigning silence. He is sure that all his friends are as tense as he feels, but there is no reason to ponder over the unknown near-future too much. It isn't their usual style and he finds himself surprised when not one, but most are talking plans and possibilities. This never happens aboard his precious Sunny and Franky feels the need to somehow put them back on track. Leaving this place will be all kinds of beneficial. This aggravating waiting is even starting to wear on Luffy. Their steadfast captain has been seen more than once circling the shores, trying to keep too much pent up energy and restlessness in check.

Franky lifts his sunglasses, scanning the horizon for the growing dot, daring it to take longer than needed to get here. Also, this doesn't mean he has to keep quiet while doing so. It is more fun rallying them up anyway.

"Let's hope that these people will be able to provide some answers."

Franky pauses at Zoro's low growl. He feels Usopp tense next to him and the shipwright sighs inwardly at the quite feral look the swordsman sports in this moment, but he cannot blame him. This situation has taken its toll on all of them no matter Franky and Brook's efforts. Franky only hopes he can keep Zoro in check.

* * *

The ship that is supposed to get them to the capital is by no means small, but it differs greatly from the usual vessels the pirates are used to seeing.

The wooden structure is built with a different technique than what is used in the future. It has a massive hull with four masts and the shipwright makes sure to point this out the first time its features become vaguely distinguishable. When it docks he inspects everything he can and finally decides, with a lot of grudging acknowledgment, that the ship meets his standards.

But all in all, it floats so Nami has nothing to complain about.

" **We wish to go to Capital.** " Robin tries to hide the reflexive wince as she realizes that something is wrong with her sentence.

The man in front of her has, at least, the decency to overlook her mistake. He studies them one by one, from Robin's smiling face before he moves to her companions. He assesses the strange vibes the whole crew is emanating, taking in their out of this world clothing and colorful appearances and shapes that surely are a curious enough sight this early in history. Of course, Robin agrees hands down that history has really taught them nothing. So she is glad when the man doesn't seem to pursue the subject and just averts his eyes the minute his staring becomes uncomfortable.

" **You are not from around here.** "

His deep voice aside, the archeologist wants to sigh in relief. This... _this_ is a language she is familiar with and can understand better than the villagers' dialect. So her assumptions are correct about the time and place they've landed in. Now they only have to play this right and maybe the reason for their sudden time travel and the other lingering mysteries will be cleared in due time. Going back to the matter at hand-

" **No. We found us in a... strange place. I hope we will able to clear this in the capital.** "

The man's eyebrows furrow and Robin knows she has to press further. Even in this time and age, things can be easily bought with money.

" **We have money.** "

Nami perks up at that and, rather reluctantly, extracts from her leather makeshift purse, a small bag of gold coins. They learned during their stay that this is the currency of this time and so the Strawhats have worked around the village everyday multiple jobs given to them by the chief to obtain this little amount of change. He is the only holder of this kind of money since the settlement itself doesn't use trade with money locally.

The sailor takes the pouch and counts the coins calmly before he seems to make up his mind. Robin blinks when ten coins are returned into her hand.

" **This will do. Come aboard.** "

Nami does not hesitate to take hold of the remaining money with large eyes full of glistening tears while the rest of her friends fill onto the ship. Robin rubs her friend's back reassuringly before she feels the weight of someone's gaze. She looks up, noting with surprise that it was the village leader.

She supposes that he has done a great deal for them in this short time so she knows that gratitude is in order.

" **Thank you for everything!** "

The old man nods stoically, but does not return her wave.

" **Make sure your efforts are not wasted this time around either.** Good luck."

Robin frowns at his words, but she does not have time to press the matter further because Nami is already pulling her by the hand and onto the departing vessel.

Robin's lips are taut when her captain finds her standing by herself at the railing.

"What's up Robin?" Luffy asks curiously, seeing the troubled face. Usually the woman reserves that expression when something truly strange and logic-defying happens and she isn't the one doing it.

The archaeologist shakes her head, a thousand questions passing through her mind but not having enough answers to produce one for her captain.

"It's nothing."

Luffy raises an eyebrow, but doesn't prod his friend any further. He watches the vast horizon stretch with a growing feeling of anticipation that matches his giddy smile in the face of this next grand adventure. Details such as how they got here and why, he decides, won't bother him anymore because Luffy now opts to concentrate on getting to know this world a little bit better. And when whatever is designated to happen will happen, he won't let it get in his way. That's what he promises the waves lapping against the hull as he watches the orange sun shrink leisurely beneath the waves, swallowed by the fiery waters of the ocean.

Whichever ocean this is.

* * *

 **A/N: Congrats! You just finished the prologue/first chapter! Please don't forget to leave your thoughts, it means a lot!**

 **I LIVE! Almost a whole year since I've posted something. So sorry. Life knows how to get in the way. As do TV shows. I know I have to thank some _people_ for this XD**

 **You can also find this story on tumblr on my blog: eternal-bruh**

 **Next chapter will be posted quickly. Like really quickly!**

 **Once again, R &R! **


	2. Chapter 2

"Um..." Nami hesitated at the shocked look the sailor is offering her. He looks as if he is genuinely surprised that she can even speak in the first place. She knows the word, but she feels so crippled, not knowing how to speak this strange language and having doubts at each interaction that she will not be able to understand more than a few simple sounds at a time. But anyways, the navigator _has_ to try if only to smother the overwhelming curiosity gnawing incessantly away at her. Because damn her and her curious personality, this request is the simplest and most rudimentary one in her line of work and she'll lie if she'd say that she was not dying to know about it. Ever since they've been strapped here.

" **... Map?** "

Maybe because he is still shocked with her sudden sound-making ability or because she is damn intimidating, the man that seems to be barely three years older than her looks and looks. And her mind suggests as she shifts from foot and foot that he might be the one with the problem.

After two minutes that seem like years, he raises an eyebrow and considers her squirming form in return for a few more unnerving moments in which Nami wants nothing more than to yell for Robin's help. But she bites her lip at the last second, knowing that they, some way or another, have to find a way to communicate in cases like these by themselves. Not only rely on Robin's albeit wider expertise in this area. The archeologist already has enough on her plate as it is, if her drooping shoulders basically every other moment of the day, are anything to go by.

At long last, the shaggy haired guy nods and leaves to search for a map, presumably. Nami taps her foot impatiently and hopes that he didn't leave her standing like an idiot in the middle of the deck for real. Blood will be spilled in that case, with or without knowing what he is screaming about.

Nami sighs in relief when she spots him making his way back to her position, an old looking piece of parchment in hand. She inhaled sharply when it is placed on the barrel in front of her and moves with trembling fingers to unroll it.

" **What do you plan on doing with that map, young lady?** "

Nami screeches and almost drops the map on the planks when an old, short woman pops up from the other side of the makeshift table, eyeing her with the most suspicious pucker of the lips the navigator has ever seen. And she has been a _pirate_ and a scourge for long enough now. Her eyes widen to disbelieving proportions at the unimpressed, stern looking lady wearing a pair of large, round glasses and white hair tied up in a crisp bun. She looks so out of place on this ship, but somehow still fits in readily. It looks like she is waiting for an answer to whatever question has startled Nami earlier, but the navigator didn't catch a word of it.

"Nami, are you alright?!" Robin's breathless inquiry seems to give the strange lady all the answers she needs, but Nami could care less as she catches Robin's arm in a death grip and swears to never let go.

" **Strangers, huh?** " She speaks more for her own benefit, though Robin nods anyway.

" **She just wished to look.** "

The old woman waves a hand in dismissal.

" **Yes, yes, I figured that out. It's fine!** " She announces loudly to basically no one but the two of them, her eyes fixed on Nami's still disturbed form. " **You. Can. Look.** " She adds deliberately slow.

The orange head purses her lips, trying in vain not to bristle at the tone of voice, but finally understands the message. This old bat is looking down on her, of course she should have seen that coming. She feels like a goddamn toddler, with no way to make herself understood even though there is a language she can speak. Nami knows that she'd be fighting a losing battle if she tries to argue. Toddler language against crazy stuff from the Void Century. Go figure.

" **This is our navigator. She wanted to know who wanted the map.** " The sailor from earlier feels the need to explain himself, seeing as the Strawhats' own navigator is already pinning him under an accusing stare.

Nami exhales, swallowing her nerves and pointedly choosing to ignore the stare of the old woman as she works to smooth out the map and take a good look at it. What she finds has her eyes widening and her mind screeches to a halt for a second there because this just couldn't freaking be and _let's be serious_.

But this wide, fucked up world has convinced her that things can go either way at any second. Since it hasn't blown up by now in their timeline, she has let herself believe that nothing _quite like what they have encountered_ can possibly bring about this. This sort of rapture in their reality. Maybe she is being overly dramatic, but Nami guesses that maybe the world has already blown up right around _now_ because this wasn't right. It couldn't have been right. Even if they got sent five hundred years into the past this couldn't have been _slightly_ right. Not for this over the top, flipped around world. Not in what she used to call _their_ world.

"W-W..." The word lodged inside her throat doesn't want to come out and it's all for the better, a cynical part of her still working brain believes.

Robin bites her lip, trying hard not to give in to the tidal wave of desperation because Nami needs her as moral support and she can't do that to her. But even the usually clear minded former assassin is having a hard time believing that this is the place called home in the future. Not knowing what to do, she calls out the first name to roll on her tongue.

"Chopper!"

The small reindeer has been exploring the strange ship's deck ever since they embarked, but pauses at the strange tone Robin has spoken in and follows it upwards in surprise. The dark haired woman is supporting Nami's shivering form, though she does not seem to be doing too well herself. Mind already whirling, the Zoan user enters his doctor mode automatically.

"What's the matter, Robin?! Do you need a doctor? Is Nami okay?"

Robin waves the string of questions away and answers shakily. "I need you to call everyone over here, please."

Chopper blinks, but nods nonetheless and sprints away to inform their friends.

" **You look positively horrified.** " The old woman comments absently, judging them behind her grey, _judgy_ eyes, Nami's mind sneers. " **Why?** "

Robin's smile is awfully sour. " **It a shock.** "

" **Why?** " The old navigator repeats her question as if just asking it will unlock some goddamn secret treasure chest. Nami would have known if this was the case.

The archaeologist chooses not to respond this time around and studies instead the lines of the map, trying to memorize everything she can.

"Nami- _swan_ , Robin- _chwan_!" Sanji's shout breaks her concentration. The cook is watching them with clear written concern under his usual fool façade.

His stare manages to snap Nami out of her shocked stupor.

"What happened?" Franky bows over the group, looking at the map over their heads. "Somethin' wrong with the map?"

" _Lots_ of things are wrong with the map!" Nami rasps, slamming her palm next to the piece of paper and successfully attracting everyone's attention.

"Can you read it to us, Miss Nami? I'm afraid I don't understand everything there..." Brook says softly, though he still manages to scare the crap out of the two standing on the other side of the barrel.

Nami sighs in frustration and ruffles her already disheveled locks.

"You see this?!" She jabs a finger at two jagged sets of parallel lines drawn vertically in the middle of the map, spread further apart.

"Uh-huh..." Luffy agrees as he rubs his chin in deep thought.

"This-" Nami's index finger contours the mass of land covering what is supposed to be half of East Blue in their time. "This isn't in our world!"

The echo of her exclamation leaves the colorful group in a grim silence, but the navigator can't be bothered by it. She is on a roll now.

"This land is connected to the Red Line itself. Well, it doesn't look too solid judging by the jagged lines that indicate possible ruptures of the land, but even so, _how can it be_?! And there're no islands! _Look_!"

The Strawhats eye their navigator warily. She seems to be so into it that she forgets to breathe for a couple of moments there. Chopper unknowingly releases a sigh in relief when he hears air whooshing out of Nami's nose.

"But it looks-" Zoro points at a few circular masses thrown like random dots on the ocean.

"Okay, there are a couple of them." Nami grunts. She moves her finger downwards to South Blue. "This is the almost same. And North and West Blue, too!"

"But where is the Grand Line then?" Zoro insists impatiently. He crosses his arms, index finger tapping his forearm restlessly.

"It isn't marked with anything..." The orange haired woman stops and starts mumbling to herself. What she's saying, only Nami herself knows.

" **What sea... this?** " The foreign words leaving Zoro's mouth take them all by surprise, but the small, old woman seems more indignant than perturbed. She watches Zoro from under the thick, black rim of her glasses and she seems to ponder if he is really worth giving an answer to.

Most of all, she raises an eyebrow at the rudimental way of speaking, but grudgingly approves that they at least know a little of the language. Though it seems at various degrees and only that black haired woman knows it best, but credit goes where it's deserved. The old navigator's mouth pulls taut, not liking the strange group and their out of nowhere appearance on her boat. It is best they are left alone, especially after seeing the orange head's reaction to finding out what the old woman feels that is general information. Even for someone that has lived under a rock in the capital. These kids look the part. So why are they acting like surprised maggots when even provincials from the Outer Rim, like the village they were picked from would not find this so earth-shattering. But she also knows that whatever their business here is, they are now travelling under her care.

Actually, she _has_ heard that strange language before and now whenever they speak it, it reminds her of dangerous lands and bad people. Dark places and overcast skies filled with smoke and ash from a thousand burning corpses and trees. Most of all, though, it's the haunting vibes that would never stop bothering her for the rest of her life.

Even so, she decides that answering will be the best option in this case. Their faces are as white as the clouds on the sky and most look on the verge of passing out which will not be beneficial when there isn't any real doctor aboard. She'd hate another death at sea to be on her hands.

" **This is the Grand Blue. The one and only sea of this world.** "

* * *

It takes Nami two days to calm down and analyze the situation from an objective point of view. In that time, their ride passes swiftly through what should be the Calm Belt and enters the hypothetical Grand Line, making full speed towards the New World.

Or where the New World should be.

Though if any of them had any doubts that this is the same sea they have been travelling on until a short while ago, the often Sea Kings attacks and very rare, but still certainly there, illogical behavior of the weather convinces them otherwise quickly. Which is a short lived relief.

Unfortunately, it rapidly becomes a presence that serves to remind them of their own time, which to Nami seems like a far, far away dream even after such a brief span of time. And it makes her want to cry whenever the treacherous thought sneaks inside her mind.

"Nami-san, are you hungry?" Sanji startles her from her latest and depressive trail of thought. Light brown eyes glance up in quiet surprise at the soft smile the blond is displaying and her stomach doesn't hesitate to growl pointedly.

"It seems so." The navigator giggles quietly as she gratefully accepts the bun and small cooked fish. It isn't one of Sanji's most amazing masterpieces, but it will have to do. She barely remembers the last time she ate.

"I'm glad to see that you're back, Nami- _swan_!"

In all honesty, she should have expected this kind of reaction. But she is still surprised at how calm Sanji was when he's said it. This act in itself signals that something is on the cook's mind and Nami has no qualms about asking, desperately wishing to escape her own muddled head for a little while.

"Something wrong, Sanji-kun?" The orange head asks nonchalantly as she shoves a third of the bun in her mouth. Her gaze never strays from the blond and she watches Sanji's lips tighten into an ironic upturn.

"I suppose it's the same thing that's been keeping you occupied for two whole days." He says. "Robin-chan has been fighting a losing battle with the old woman. She wouldn't show the map to us anymore."

Nami's mouth goes taut as she considers his words. A part of her really wants to inspect it further, but the other screams and trashes that it wants nothing to do with it anymore. She wishes more than anything to call this all just a bad dream and pinch herself on the arm until she wakes up. But it won't work, of course. Nami may be a dreamer, but she isn't delusional. She can only continue to hope.

Heaving a shaky sigh, she munches on the rest of her meal quickly, unmindful of Sanji's advices to slow it down and stands up when she is finished. She pats away the dust on her jeans and glares at the shining disk on the sky with more determination than she had just ten minutes ago.

"Nami-san?"

"Mind helping me convince that stubborn crone?" Nami grins slyly and the cook mirrors her expression after a second's hesitation.

"It will be my absolute pleasure!" Sanji intones in obvious delight as he shakes a cigarette from his pack and lights it up in one fluid motion that always managed to impress Nami.

The cook considers his choice to take a new package before disembarking on No Name Island has been his best one yet.

The duo maneuvers easily around the working sailors, spotting some of their friends along the way as they direct steady steps towards the main cabin's doors. Nami does not hesitate to knock on the weathered wood three loud times before she takes a step back and crosses her arms, her foot automatically starting to tap an impatient rhythm on the ground.

Her mental count is at 86 seconds when the old woman decides to throw the door open, face as unconcerned as ever. Her eyebrows draw up though, when she spots Nami's narrowed eyes and pursed lips.

" **What is it now, girl? Haven't you had enough of moping around?** "

Nami mostly understands the first part, but only catches a whiff of the main idea in the second. The question is, at least, one that she can answer.

" **I see map again. Please?** "

There is no answer as she has feared. She might have to start begging with gestures because she doesn't want to risk saying stupid things besides the word 'please', but Sanji chooses that moment to intervene.

" **Please, miss Zahra.** " The cook insists politely and Nami doubles back at the form of address for which the old woman – Zahra, apparently – rewards him with her attention. " **It is important.** "

" **Why? What else do you want to see?** " The older navigator asks catatonically. " **Haven't you already seen enough?** "

Sanji's eyebrow pulses, a sure sign that he is struggling to keep up with the sudden accelerated rhythm of conversation and Nami can sympathize with him on that matter. But otherwise he appears nonplussed by the words coming out of the old navigator's mouth.

" **Then you explain, please?** " The orange head decides to tackle the subject another way.

" **About islands and map.** " Sanji helpfully includes his two cents and Nami applauds inside her mind for their collaborative creativity. It seems that he has practiced speaking the language and got even better than her during her short seclusion from the world.

Zahra takes a minute to make her decision. Rubbing her temples, she turns to reenter her room.

" **Gather your friends then.** "

Sanji grins victoriously and Nami winks at him before dashing around the deck in search of the others with the cook hot on her heels.

* * *

" **This,** " Zahra begins, pointing to the irregular mass of land where the Blues are supposed to be, " **continents.** "

"Continents." Robin translates for the benefit of those not knowing the word.

The old woman purses her lips at the horrid language, but does nothing to reprimand her.

" **This is the only sea, Grand Blue.** " She contours the water.

"That is the Grand Blue, the only sea. **What is this?** "

Zahra's grey eyes barely acknowledge Robin's pointing finger, tracing it towards their time's Reverse Mountain.

" **We call it the Gate. The capital has carved passages through it and created a way for ships like ours to enter the other parts of the Grand Blue. Of course, the continentals did not like it too much. Been having wars with them over it for centuries!** "

"What'd she say, Robin?" Chopper asks curiously, having trouble understanding everything even after looking through Robin's notes.

"They call Reverse Mountain 'the Gate' and apparently the capital has created it to allow ships to travel to the other Blues, I suppose. There was something about a war with people from the continent." The archeologist taps her chin silently before another thought occurs to her. " **Are there islands, too?** "

Zahra scoffs. " **Of course! But not many are known or are too important.** "

She moves her finger to punctuate along the ocean.

" **The kingdom of** Alabasta **.** Shandora **,** Wano **,** Dressrosa **. Water's Seven and the capital itself."** Her finger pats an accumulation of islands drawn as little, scattered circles, but otherwise unmarked. **"Others are either not inhabited or discovered yet.** "

"Water's... Seven?" Franky chokes from the back, clutching Robin's journal like a lifeline.

Zahra's eyes don't lose any time in fixing him up with a glacial beam. " **That the name, blue hair.** "

"Maybe that's how they call it in this time." Usopp lifts his shoulders in a shrug, trying to offer a little support at the curious name. " **Why that name?** "

The old woman hesitates, apparently judging if the long nosed kid is an idiot or has really been living under a very uninformative rock. Sadly, neither is true.

" **Water's Seven** _ **docks**_ **. The city has seven docks and it's built on water.** " The intended _duh_ makes Usopp wonder if the word would sound the same in the ancient language.

Robin bites her lip when she sees her theory proved true right before her eyes. And she isn't sure if she would rather weep with joy or remain thoroughly disappointed.

"This... wasn't how I wanted to find out about this. If I am to be completely honest." The black haired woman releases an airy laugh devoid of any amusement that successfully confuses her crewmates.

"Did she say anything else, Robin?" Franky prods gently, hoping to not upset the archaeologist further, but wanting to know if anything about his home city was added.

"I only caught the names. She _was_ listing islands, right?" Zoro doesn't seem to mind the subdued atmosphere. "And then something about Water Seven's name or whatever."

He crosses his arms, brow furrowed in concentration. The swordsman isn't exactly sure if the countries on the list are the only ones remaining or not. Or the only ones that exist at the moment, though this particular thought does not sit right with him.

"Yes." Robin agrees softly. "At this point, there are only these five islands. Others are not discovered or inhabited so they didn't write them down. Also, she was pointing toward the capital just now."

"Oh. And what has you so worked up then?" Luffy asks bluntly, basically confused why this is such a big deal and partly concerned about his friend's grey face.

One corner of Robin's mouth pulls upwards.

"Because I was right – Shandora being called Shandora means that we have been sent back to the Void Century." The historian turns around to face her friends and extends her arms in a un-Robin-like gesture. "This 'capital' being here means that we've been sent more than nine hundred years into the past."

Usopp swallows heavily, past the lump in his throat, past the sickness he knows he was coming down with since it was only a matter of time. And now past the uncharacteristic way Robin is eyeing them. As if she thinks that she is dreaming.

At some point, he manages to croak.

"Ni-Nine _hundred_?!"

"Damn." Zoro clicks his tongue, decidedly not in the mood. He wonders if there is any alcohol to be stolen from under the deck.

"That means that this _is_ the ancient language and we are now heading towards the capital. So we should expect to see many differences to our own world." Robin nods as she speaks and Nami resists the urge to rub her temples. If this is her friend's way of having a breakdown, she would have been decidedly happier with anything relating to crying and shouting. Hell, suicidal thoughts all the way. But an out of character Robin is too creepy to not give anyone nightmares. Damn, they always manage to get into the worst situations without any visible way out.

Her questions more or less answered, the navigator turns towards Zahra with a small smile.

" **Thank you for...** _ **help**_ **.** " The orange head recites the word out of Robin's little notebook. It has become their one and only dictionary in this apparent past.

Zahra nods and rolls up the map, departing without another word.

"So," Brook begins, looking to be debating whether a song would be appropriate in this situation or not, "what do we do now?"

"Go to the fucking capital and find some damn answers!" Zoro roars, his temple twitching visibly. Many men stop and throw him irritated glares over their shoulders while others simply wish to see what the green haired stranger is so worked up about now.

Sanji clears his throat and jabs him in the small of his back. It thankfully seems to do the trick.

"I second that!" Usopp nods fervently, half hidden behind his swordsman friend now that he isn't in homicidal mood anymore.

"I suppose it's the best bet we have." Franky lifts his sunglasses on his forehead, watching his crewmates' half shouts of agreement.

"Come on, you guys!" Luffy complains loudly. When he knows he got their attention, he allows his usual wide, confident grin to overcome his features. "This is an adventure! We should have fun, too!"

Chopper sniffs, but readily agrees. There is no point in arguing with Luffy anyway.

"Yohoho! Luffy-san really knows how to lighten the mood!" Brook hums, feeling pumped up for the road ahead. At least someone has to be.

* * *

It takes only four more days until they arrive at the Red Line and, consequently, to their time's Sabaody Archipelago. But there is nothing there to be seen but a relatively small patch of trees. They are half the size of the Yarukiman Mangroves they are used to encountering and look like they offer no shelter. There's certainly no island underneath their branches. Only bare roots and the ocean.

A few ships are in sight, but then again, ships have always been in sight ever since their ship entered deeper waters. None of them even remotely resemble a pirate one. Rather, the locals who own them are busy fishing just like Luffy, Usopp and Chopper are doing after having robbed some poor sailors of three fishing rods. The trio is busy making funny faces at the people on the other boat that floats closely to theirs while the rest of the crew is relaxing near the railing.

"Water Seven is the place where Pluton was constructed," Robin recounts slowly and Franky nods behind her in silent agreement, "and then it was shipped off to Alabasta." She stops, flips another three pages. "Technically. But there was no mention on the Poneglyph about Pluton's whereabouts in Alabasta the last time we've been there."

"What!" The shipwright's jaw falls at the news. "So it didn't tell you anything about it?"

"No details as far as I'm concerned. It has been only mentioned in passing. The real information is still out there somewhere." Brown eyes glint in the sun's rays. "Now closer than ever, it seems."

"I wonder what this 'capital' is all about." Nami mumbles distractedly, making air quotes with her fingers and noticing with a prayer of thanks that Robin is back to her usual self.

"The better question would be what we'll be doing there when we arrive." Sanji exhales a cloud of smoke, stubbing his consumed cigarette on the railing he is leaning up against. He makes a mental note to beg tobacco selling places out of Zahra. "We have zero clues and now there's important we are careful not to stand out..." The blond trails off, eyes his friends and promptly reformulates his earlier statement. " _Too much_."

"The _even_ _better_ question would be how do we get to the New World?" Usopp leans back to stare at them all, only to receive blank stares in return. "What? Am I the only one who thought about that?!"

When only blank stares greet him again, the sniper fights hard not to lose it.

"C'mon guys!"

"Sanji-kun is right, but Usopp's words are worrying me. Though I believe that Fishman Island must be still here. Or at least some form of it." Robin gazes at the commotion around the deck with interest.

The ship has slowed down noticeably in the last hour or so and they are now floating through the calm waters, heading straight for the dark red mass of rock towering over them imperiously.

" **Let's begin, boys!** " Zahra appears on deck then, her eyes scanning the crowd of fully equipped sailors critically. Most are holding barrels and buckets along with large brushes and cloths in their hands. Her critical gaze stops on the Strawhats and the old woman opens her mouth to reprimand them. " **You kids stay out of the way. Got it?** "

Most nods with the exception of Luffy. He still doesn't understand any of her words.

"Is lunch ready?" The captain asks as he wrestles with a fish his size.

No one answers him. Instead, they watch as the workers move as one, starting to apply a sticky substance to various parts of the ship.

"They are... coating it. Please tell me they are coating it." Franky whispers in awe with a hint of fear, watching the men work carefully, but efficiently.

"So we're going under like usual." Zoro is glad that at least this is something they are familiar with.

"I wonder how long this will take." Chopper rubs his cheek, his bright eyes more interested in the current proceedings on the vessel than his latest catch.

"Chopper, it's pulling!"

* * *

Only Franky has been around the Sunny when it was coated before and he is honestly surprised by how little it takes the sailors to finish the job. Granted, the last time there has only been one fishman to the job with small help from the cyborg when Den allowed it. These guys' collective effort took half an hour and by then the Strawhat pirates have already caught two big fish and a smaller one that were to be served for dinner later in the day.

Robin and Nami – the newly formed annoy-Zahra tag team, as the woman herself put it– have been pestering the old navigator with various questions about the nature of their next part of the journey, but have been left with barely a grumbled out response in return. This has them stuck with even more curious inquiries. For the moment though, they've been assured that their underwater journey will be taking only half a day at most after which there is a five days' journey to the capital if the winds are in their favor. If her calculations are correct, Nami concludes that the islands they are sailing toward can't be too far into the New World.

"Or maybe it's because the weather isn't so abruptly changing and so they're going at full speed?" The revelation only manages to bring about horror and she spends the next few minutes moaning and groaning because of the unfairness.

Sanji takes it upon himself to solve the upcoming issues of their arrival and speaks to Zahra about the port they are going to dock at. He finds himself surprised at how willing the old crone is to tell him all about it. But either way, the cook brushes it off and concentrates on catching everything she is saying, gritting his teeth when he sees that she is slowing down and using simpler terms intentionally. Sanji swallows his frustration and nods along. By the end of his little chat, he has acquired enough information to formulate a good strategy for the visit on the main island of the so-called capital.

As last minute preparations are being done, Sanji returns to his friends' side, ignoring their burning stares full of curiosity.

"We'll talk after we sink." He explains briefly, wondering how strange that sentence really sounded.

Barely a minute later, three fishmen and one merman surface on opposite sides of the ship. They exchange a few rushed words with Zahra before another middle-aged sailor, starts tying thick ropes on the masts and railings.

" **What those for, Zahra?** " Franky asks, excited as he gives a helping hand in tightening the knot on the foremast.

The old woman raises an eyebrow, but decides to humor him. " **For those who will carry us.** " She indicates in the water's direction where two large, multicolored fins are protruding its surface.

She smirks at Franky's impressed whistle.

" **Everyone grab onto something and keep tight! We don't want to have our friends here run back in vain for your stupid asses!** " Zahra's voice reverberates over the deck and, as one, everyone clings to anything glued to the ship.

"Make sure you guys keep an eye on Luffy and the others, alright?" Nami shouts over her shoulder, bracing for something like an impact to come.

But there was none.

"But is it going to be fine?" Usopp is glancing around nervously. The water level is past their heads now. "We've been sinking for a while now."

"Yes, ever since they finished with the coating." Robin agrees, prompting the sniper to release an undignified shriek. "I don't know what they did, but the rate of sinking was so slow, it was barely noticeable."

"Maybe it has to do with the mass of the ship?" Brook proposes, double checking his hold on the railing. "I don't sink if I run fast on water."

"You mean to say that this ship's extremely light?" Franky asks from behind Luffy's wild tuft of hair. The shipwright has one of his massive hands wrapped around their hyperactive captain, keeping his struggling form in place.

"Could be, seeing as we've got here in, what, four days?" Zoro guesses, lounging on the ground and entirely too unconcerned.

"It took six, you stupid algae brain!" Sanji grunts from his side and receives the stink-eye in return. "But I agree with the idiot. It can be one of the reasons."

No one has time to offer anything else. The ship suddenly lurches forward and sinks the rest of the way into the water. A wave of nostalgia and wonder hits Nami as she takes in the underwater landscape once more and its array of different life forms. She is also able to take a good look at the large creatures pulling the ship. There is a Sea King with pale green skin with colorful dots are splotched all over its body that is guiding their ride from the front, while another one swims by next to him. The beasts are very tame with the fishmen handling them and their kin is avidly avoiding the vessel at all costs.

"This is new." Chopper confesses, looking all around them with wide eyes. "Usually they won't hesitate to attack ships."

"Yeah. Seems like these guys know what they're doing." Usopp agrees, tapping his fingers on the wooden floor nervously. "I wonder why everyone's still latched to the ship, though."

"Probably as a safety measure." Franky concludes. "We should take their example and do so as well." He added mostly for the benefit of his impatient captain still struggling in his hold. Luffy only huffs and crosses his arms.

"Now you better start spewing, stupid cook." Zoro blurts out, eye narrowed on the back of the man's head, daring him to argue. "What did that hag say to you?"

Sanji sighs, knowing he has landed in the middle of them for that very reason. "Alright, don't get your panties in a twist, algae."

" _You_ -"

Now that he has their attention, Sanji continues. "So I asked her about the city mostly. What we can find there and who we can talk to about some important stuff. She finally told me at some point, but first insisted I know about the islands themselves."

He stops, feeling the desperate need for a cigarette, but doesn't want to risk the old crone's wrath by lighting it up underwater and having her yell at him that he'll set fire to everything. It won't be the first time, either. Seeing as no one is planning to interrupt his monologue, the cook continues on, swiftly recalling the shocking next bit he is about to relay.

"The main island of this capital where we'll be docking on is named Raftel."

"What!" Nami's shout makes even the Sea Kings turn their way, but it unfortunately is quickly covered by a series of unintelligible stammering from the others, culminated by Chopper's strangled yelp.

Sanji sees Usopp's face gradually lose all color so that it is in the end as pale as a sheet of paper. Franky whistles again in that annoyingly unconcerned manner of his that makes the cook want to deck him for being so stupidly unimpressed with anything they stumble upon – _especially_ the goddamn island that has sparked so many legends in their time and caused everyone to lose their shit and minds over. For which they would trade a civilian life for something resembling an endless and futile search. Brook releases a nervous laugh that seems more in tone with the problem here and Sanji approves and turns his head to see Robin's taut mouth and Zoro's shuttered expression. It's rewarded with a glare from the cook because why does he have to be so damn unexpressive when there is the obvious issue at hand and is he the only one _at_ _least_ _a bit_ concerned about it. Luffy simply continues to regard him calmly, urging the story on. Which gives Sanji all the thumbs down needed to know that his captain either isn't buying it or is slowly coming to the conclusion that things won't go his way this time around.

"The four surrounding it are Poseidon, Pluton, Uranus and Atlantis – Fishman Island, in our time."

"So they are named after the three Ancient Weapons-" Robin stops abruptly, eyes going wide before she bursts out laughing. "But then again, of course they are!"

Nami cleares her throat uncomfortably at the exclamation.

"And Fishman Island seems to be on the surface. It's kind of great, actually." Usopp flashes a wavering smile full of dashing hope and Sanji, heart heavy, inwardly prepares to destroy it.

"This means that the city before us is just a small settlement then, no?" Brook would smile, had he possessed muscles to do so.

Heads turn just in time to see the first coral roofs rise in the large air bubble. There are noticeably fewer houses than the Fishman Island they know, but this is only expected of such an early settlement. There is little agitation inside the city, but their guides carefully avoid it by swimming around the bubble full of air. The pirates use this chance to study the small crowds, so familiar yet full of strangers.

"I suggest we admire the sights for now." Brook says, hoping to share in the thirst for adventure. "Yohoho!"

* * *

Five long days that seem to stretch on endlessly later and the time travelers conclude that Zahra has not, in fact, lied to them. In front of their very eyes, sprawled on the horizon, Raftel's high stone buildings and towers spiral into the clouds over the island as they come into view – competing with one another in height and architectural design. After the initial shock, the crew's expectant gazes settle on the approaching port, lined with merchant vessels and civilian fishing boats alike that creates a solid fence for the city limits.

"This is. Something else." Robin says, breathless all of a sudden as the others disembark behind her.

The archeologist glances up and down the wide street, to the unique decorations hanging on houses and stalls that consist of flags, lanterns and an array of exotic and colorful flower arrangements. Finally, Robin looks to the mass of cleanly cut marble and stone of the large palace sprawling not far out in front of them. It feels so gigantic against the ordinary buildings and in turn makes Robin feel so small in comparison.

"It's. It's..." Nami trails off, light brown eyes impossibly wide and sparkling with the usual reflection of money as one hand covers her mouth in shock.

" _It's made of gold_!"

The navigator's shout echoes down the street, attracting a few confused stares. Usopp offers them sheepish smiles and a small wave in return and, luckily, the citizens carry on with their business.

It falls on Sanji, as it is, to thank Zahra and the sailors for getting them there. But if it is for sweet Robin- _chwan_ and Nami- _swan_ , the cook will do it without grumbling. Too much.

And so, after learning this convenient combination of words from the magical little notebook of one of his objects of affection, he decides to get this over with.

" **We thank you for the help!** "

And the blond bows to the small woman to add effect.

Zahra scoffs and inclines her head jerkily. " **You kids better not cause trouble around here.** "

" **Yes-** "

" **Now get lost!** "

Zoro chuckles as he sees the stupid cook manhandled by the old hag.

"I'm glad it was so funny to you, stupid water caricature freak!" The cook grumbles as he takes out a cigarette from his rapidly emptying pack and curses. He forgot to ask Zahra about it as he should've. He inwardly hopes that he'll be able to find some tobacco around here since it seems like a rich city. Especially judging by how everything sparkles in the sunlight-

Sanji's feet draw to a stop as the man himself gapes like a fish out of water. "What."

"Look at this! _Look_!" Luffy shouts, jumping up and down in the middle of the street. "It's all gold!"

"Oh my god, it really is!" Usopp exclaims from his spot next to the nearest building, touching it with overwhelming reverence that borders on something less healthy.

"It seems like Shandora wasn't the only city of gold." Robin smiles with bemusement at the crew's antics.

" _Yow_ , bro! How many Berri do you think a single house here makes?" Franky rubs his chin and smirks as his businessman side takes charge.

"More than ten million for sure!" Nami screeches obscenely loud again, her eyes definite Berri signs and knees shaking. The navigator looks like she could melt into a puddle at any given moment because of the luminescent sight of so much precious metal splayed right in front of her.

"Really?!" Chopper's jaw hangs open and the reindeer hugs the nearest statue of gold that he finds in his path with a white knuckled grip.

"Come on, stop fucking around!" Zoro scowls, eye narrowed at the too relaxed attitude of the others. They are in enemy territory, damn it!

"Yohoho! I believe it will be better if we'd find a change of clothes first." Brook proposes, walking with hunched shoulders in the hope that not too many people will notice his _ghastly_ appearance. Of course, that is a futile wish since his height is outstanding on its own, but many luckily assume that it is a costume. "I can see a large variation in clothing styles!" The musician points out from his vantage point.

Zoro wants to groan at the sight. The skeleton is right – the clothes are totally different and he is certainly not looking forward to put such things on. Some are different, probably signaling that there are natives of other cultures visiting the island. He spots a few Alabastian outfits and others that would belong to Wano, judging by the samurai-styled clothing. There are also normal ones in the sea of white and color, but of course the Strawhat pirates won't go for _normal._ They have to go for more than normal so the completely abnormal will be covered expertly.

Sanji finally snaps out of his fit of admiration for Nami and Robin and straightens as he clears his throat.

"Brook's right. Our first stop is a shop with clothes!" The cook announces to the audience in general and grabs Luffy by the scruff of his vest. He gestures Usopp and Chopper to detach themselves off the golden objects they are holding onto lest they get arrested for being too weird for this timeline.

They are being the too-obvious outsiders in this moment and the blond is starting to feel self-conscious.

" **Zahra** showed me the general direction the nearest shop is in so we should leave before someone decides we are too out of place and does something about it."

Zoro raises an eyebrow at the tense posture of the idiot, but bites his tongue. He doesn't like agreeing with the guy on principle, but he is right this instance.

They end up going the wrong way two times and it isn't because of Zoro, shockingly. The third try is the charm and the pirate crew finally find themselves standing in front of a large shop's entrance. It is decorated with colorful lanterns and garlands hang from its roof and over their heads in a mildly irritating manner. The inside is equally as cheerful and it smells of lily perfume and incense.

"Are you _sure_ this is a shop for _men_ , too?" Zoro grounds through his teeth, watching Robin and Nami converse about a dress they've found through the folded materials. Another look and the swordsman knows that there are _only_ dresses in here.

"Yes, I'm freaking positive!" Sanji growls back. "Now shut up and go find some rag to wear. We don't have money for you, too!"

The swordsman rolls his eyes and mouths sarcastically. "Enough only for Nami and Robin, of course."

"Of course, _algae_." Sanji replies and sticks out his tongue, though he is distracted from a possible stare off with said water plant when the salesgirl approaches them with a hesitant smile and a skip in her step.

" **How may I be of help to you?** "

Robin intervenes before Sanji can begin bewitching in another language.

" **We search for suitable clothes to wear.** "

The brown haired woman nods in understanding and helpes select garments for everyone. The process is a little tedious and seems complex at first sight since there isn't any scale of measurement besides the naked eye. This coupled with some of the more unwilling ones and it is way past noon when the crew had barely managed to cover half of its members.

Needless to say, there isn't only Zoro in the Disgruntled Club, but Usopp and Franky too. The trio isn't willing enough to wear those long dresses – considered _unmanly_ – but they do not have a choice in the end because Robin, Nami and Sanji working together prove to hold a little too much persuasive power over them.

In complete contrast, Brook seems totally content with the way his new white attire covers his bony body and makes it so much easier to pass of as normal. He combined it with a black scarf wound around his neck high enough to cover up to his nose and his hat hangs low over his eyes. Now the musician can easily say that he is artfully camouflaged.

Chopper uses the same method to cover his furry body as much as he can while keeping his hat on and hoping that his antlers will appear to be part of it. He spins around in a circle and grins happily, watching his white toga and blue embroidered shawl covering it swish with each movement.

Nami gets herself an outfit not unlike the one she has worn in Alabasta. The only difference is the large, orange flowered shawl wrapped around her waist and draped over one shoulder that hides her midnight blue bra and exposed back. The navigator was hesitant to cover herself up in this heat, but the salesgirl warned her about walking around in only that. Even if she is an Alabastian, it was advisable to wear it because of the sudden bouts of rain the rainfall season often brings. So Nami consented to the beautiful shawl in the end.

Usopp is standing in place awkwardly, not feeling up to walking around or even breathing as a matter of fact. He still doesn't understand why he can't keep his pants on underneath, even though he will probably die of overheat. The others look pretty happy with their dresses, but the sniper doesn't feel extremely comfortable without his pants. The cream colored toga and yellow and brown shawl are a nice touch and they certainly appeal to his artistic side. He has to hand it to the shopkeeper – she has chosen colors based on his former clothes well.

He is also forced to reconsider his earlier thoughts when he discovers the amazing inner function of hiding his satchel behind the shawl without it appearing to be anything there. These long clothes aren't that bad and this definitely awards the garments points in the sniper's book.

In the end, Usopp opts to just watch in amusement as Luffy bounces around in his new acquisition. Their captain is grinning widely, whirling in place continuously as he tries to make his own white toga and flaming red shawl fly along with Chopper's. His trusty straw hat is perched safely on his head, gaining the approval of his navigator and cook in style and color palette.

Robin smiles down at her lavender dress and gold embroidered shawl before her head lifts to watch Zoro and Franky's protests with infinite amusement. She was surprised to see the shop having such a large tunic for their uniquely shaped shipwright, but the salesgirl surprised the archaeologist when she got one out for him to try on.

It is white with blue embroideries and has a matching striped white and blue shawl over it. The color is slightly darker than his hair, but it matches well enough.

Zoro on the other hand, looks to be contemplating bloody murder under that green toga and white and red lined embroidered shawl. The color is very close to that of his coat so the archeologist can't understand why he is being such a baby about it.

"It doesn't look too different from what you usually wear, Zoro." Robin knows that she is threading into dangerous territory, but she cannot help herself.

The swordsman glowers at her predictably furious. "That was a long coat and this is a freaking dress. Check your eyes woman!"

The black haired historian grins teasingly and drapes a yellow veil over his head. "This will go nicely with your hair."

"Hey-!"

"You better take Robin-chan's gift! It will hide your ridiculous locks, y'know?" Sanji snickers behind his yellow shawl as he exits the fitting cabin leisurely, sporting a white toga embroidered with golden stitching.

Taking the bait right off the bat, Zoro plunges into another swear fest right on.

"Um. **How much?** " Nami asks, uncertainty creeping inside her chest. All these clothes are amazing, but she is afraid of the price they now have to pay.

The salesgirl smiles sweetly and answers without much thought. " **These will be thirty Pons.** "

The navigator raises an eyebrow at the surprisingly low price, but does not complain and hands her the money with a grateful smile as the others fill out of the shop. Her light brown gaze lingers on the discarded clothes they have been wearing until now, not sure if they should take them along, but considering they do not know the extent of their stay here Nami supposes they are better left behind. Flashing another grateful smile to the brown haired woman behind the counter, she turns around and follows her friends out into the street.

Her mind flashes briefly to the small coins jiggling inside her bag and she takes one out curiously, flipping it on her palm. On one side of the golden coin is a circle with four large dots placed at its diameter points with another, larger one right in the middle of them. Nami frowns in confusion at the simplistic and overly strange picture. There are a few small characters in the ancient language that she'll have to ask Robin about, but the image itself reminds her of the World Government flag even though it did not look like it at first glance. But then again, these might represent the archipelago they are in.

Nami flips it to the other side and her eyes widen when she makes out a ship behind which there is a faded skull with a crown over its head. There are more ancient words on this side and her curiosity flares.

"Where should we go now?" Brook asks, walking at a leisure pace in front of Nami's distracted form.

"Robin!"

Robin raises an eyebrow at her approaching friend. She somehow seems out of breath, but her mind is clearly elsewhere.

"Can you read what's written on these?"

Robin nods at the simple request and accepts the golden coin thrust into her palm.

"Let's go eat!" Luffy declares loudly, pumping a fist in the air. Usopp, Franky and Chopper immediately agree with the idea, but Sanji is having none of it.

"Now wait a damn minute!" The cook protests vehemently, even though starving is a big no-no in his books, too. "We have no way to make money so we've got no way of filling Luffy's bottomless hole. Understand?" He eyes his captain pointedly, but it is the others who nod in his stead. Sanji sighs, left with no other choice but to follow.

They move slowly through the crowds, trying to find a nice and cheap restaurant while also making sure Zoro doesn't get lost in the influx of people populating the streets. It is a nerve wrecking half an hour of Nami and Sanji inspecting different places and deciding if they are suitable enough, but most prove to be simply too high or low class or not fast enough when it comes to cooking a large variety of dishes in a short amount of time.

In the end, their navigator has the mercy to announce that they will be stopping at a rather small establishment filled with cozy sofas and low tables. Everything looks nice without it being too expensive. It also offers a good side view of the palace and the pirates are now able to inspect the large structure more conspicuously.

"It's big." Zoro observs, feeling an incoming headache as he drops in his proclaimed seat.

"And made of gold, too." Usopp adds with honest incredulity. He shifts his legs left and right, not sure how to arrange them under a dress so he takes Nami's feminine example. "Just how rich are these people?"

"Very, if the gold houses are any hint." Sanji puffs out a smoke cloud, keeping his eyes fixed on the golden building glittering in the late afternoon sun.

"It only says 'capital' and its amount. In this case it's one hundred Pons." Robin relays the information to Nami, who thanks her and pockets the coin.

"This means," the navigator's eyes pin Luffy down with a merciless glare, "that Sanji is right and you can't eat too much. Who knows how much an inn costs and we need to _survive_ here, got it?"

The raven head pouts, but he knows that his friends won't budge and, frankly, he understands why the situation is so dire. None of the money from their world work and it isn't like they had much of those with them either. And until they figure out how this world goes and why they are here in the first place, working is out of the question. So they should take care of the remaining amount for now.

The captain nods grimly, surprising his crewmates with his mature way of responding.

"This… went better than expected." The orange head whispers to no one, accepting the simple sheet of paper that composes the menu that their waitress handed to her with a smile.

"I can't read any of it."

"Yohoho, me neither! So what is our next move, Sanji-san?" Brook asks after the waitress takes her leave.

The blond startles out from his inspection of the building. He assesses his friends' expectant faces and licks his dry lips.

" **Zahra** – even she didn't know where we could talk about our, uh, _special_ situation."

"Did you tell her anything?" Zoro interrupts, ready to gut the idiot if he had spilled anything.

"No, but she took a wild guess." The cook sighs in resigned defeat.

"And was she right?" Franky approaches carefully.

"Close enough to not be entirely comfortable. But anyway," he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "she only said that we might be able to find somebody who could help us if we go to the palace. She said to ask to speak with the head of **Science**."

"Science then." Robin translates for everyone. "Probably a department of some kind."

"There is something like that here?" Usopp blurts in shock.

Sanji gives him the stink-eye, but does not make any effort in explaining the matter further. "After we eat, I suggest we go see about that."

The Strawhats agree, faces grim and determined.

"That old woman really has it in for you. Giving you so much free info." Zoro can't help himself anymore and makes sure to couple his words with an appropriately teasing smirk and wiggling eyebrows that leave the cook itching to kill him and on the verge of gagging.

"At least I was useful for something, you ungrateful moss ball!" The blond clicks his tongue and kicks Zoro's seat strong enough to inconspicuously move it a few inches, not in the mood to argue with the damn bastard. Instead, he focuses on the nice looking lady shyly approaching their table to ask for the orders and beams like nothing happened.

Zoro shakes his head, feeling that the day is not done making a fool out of them yet.


	3. Chapter 3

With the significantly less amount of food Luffy has the option to ingurgitate, the time travelers finish their meal relatively quickly. None were more shocked than Sanji and the captain himself – the former becoming somewhat angry now that he knows that Luffy can survive without needing to eat a mountain of food, while the latter is trying his best not to start complaining. Their bill was fifty Pons, leaving Nami to collect the change in the form of smaller gold coins with the same engravings, but different amounts of value to them.

The afternoon sun was slowly starting its descent west when the group finally arrives at the gates of the palace. After bypassing the last row of houses and the suspiciously – but they cannot complain about it – largely open golden gate, they enter a trimmed garden filled with flowers of all kinds that gradually transforms into a small, exotic forest.

The large building stands at the other end of a stone path flanked on both sides by bushes and small trees, the occasional big crown of leaves towering over their heads and obstructing the sun's rays as they walk toward the large, gold tinted doors. At first glance Franky would be inclined to say they are made of wood, but the shipwright has his doubts that such a rich nation would waste so little money on their _palace_ door. So he places his bet on heavy metal plated with gold and engraved with different scenes and images from nature to form a mural of sorts. It is painted in such a way that easily resembles wood, though.

" **Stop right there!** " A rough voice barks from the underbrush. The unrelenting sound of footsteps thudding on the ground that follows distracts the compact group long enough to let themselves get completely surrounded by the palace's supposed soldiers.

Zoro's snort is audible in the descending silence and it makes none too few of the armed men send scorching glares in his direction that are eagerly returned by the swordsman.

"What are they _wearing_?!" Usopp's question sums up in a few words all of the things the Strawhats are probably thinking right now.

The guards standing in front of them are only wearing a knee length pair of pants. A material of the same color of black that can be easily associated with a skirt over which there are two broad gold plates of armor. Their torso also sports a gold enhanced armor over a simple blouse and in their feet are strappy sandals. This ridiculous outfit completes itself with a curved, long, golden-tipped spear.

"I'm not sure, but I never want to see this sight again." Nami moans, resisting the urge to laugh out loud and instead chooses to rub her eyes as she tries to get rid of the image.

"Check this out – that guy on the right has a stupid looking helmet to boot." Sanji snickers behind his cigarette, looking entirely too nonchalant standing at the front of the captured group.

"Maybe it's a custom." Chopper tries, but even the small doctor does not look entirely convinced of his suggestion.

"Yeah, a custom of looking retarded-"

" **What are you doing here?! State your names!** " The man with the helmet barks out, interrupting Zoro and signing himself as the obvious captain of the squad slash overall idiot.

"May I, cook-san?" Robin smiles in amusement and steps forward, trying to look as unthreatening as she can under these circumstances. " **We are sorry for intruding. We want to speak with the head of Science.** " She tries to repeat Sanji's earlier words as best as she is able to remember.

The man's brows furrow comically under the low edge of the helmet.

" **And why would you want to speak with him? Normal citizens should know better!** " He empathizes his declaration by slamming the end of his spear into the cobblestone walkway. " **Who are you? Speak!** "

Robin clicks her tongue quietly, not entirely sure what part of the truth she can answer him with. She sees Sanji and Zoro open their mouths at the same time and knows that this situation will get infinitely worse than it already is if they start digging. But before she can come up with a good enough lie, the trio's simultaneous speeches are cut short by a new voice coming from behind the human barricade. The archaeologist sighs, thankful to the stranger for stopping the disaster.

" **What is going on here?** " The tone is low and smooth, but not thick enough to be attributed to an entirely gruff man.

Robin waits patiently along with her fidgety friends and quickly bored captain for the new figure to make his entrance. Inwardly, Robin allows herself a small spark of hope. Maybe this bad situation can somehow be solved. She may be able to find a way, especially if the newcomer is a high ranked member of the royal palace.

The line of soldiers breaks and they draw to the side to reveal a relatively tall black haired man. He does not step forward, opting to stand where he is and watch them with a disdainful expression plastered on his face. His dark eyes study their appearances attentively while a hand is securely placed on the hilt of the broad sword strapped at his hip. Fortunately, the newcomer is not dressed especially strange for the new standards they have encountered. He sports a long, dark blue toga tied with a yellow sash around his middle and a long red shawl cascades toward the ground bound by a golden brooch. His feet are clad in high sandals with armor plates strapped until his knees and wears golden bangles on his wrists.

" **Well, who the hell are you?** " The man prods after a few tense moments of their stare down.

It strikes Robin as strange the way he carries himself around the soldiers and the woman realizes that they have just struck gold – pun ironically overlooked. This man is an important official on this island and he is from now their only way of achieving their task.

" **We are travelers.** " The archaeologist sends a quick, warning look to the five people behind, who have their mouths immediately open after her first words. " **And we wish to speak with the head of Science.** "

The official does not seem fazed. " **So you know about it. What kind of travelers are you that you need an audience with him?** " He returns, rightly suspicious. " **You do not seem thoroughly important to me.** "

Robin's smile is tight, but still polite. " **We are one of a kind.** "

The black haired man snorts. " **I'm sure you are. Get them out of here.** " He addresses the soldiers, turning on his heels and starting to walk away from them.

The crew's historian feels a surge of panic as their captors start advancing on them, cutting off the image of the man's retreating back and she bites back a curse. There goes their chances of infiltrating this place without using blunt force or causing imminent destruction.

"What did he say, Robin?!" Luffy exclaims as he lifts his fists, willing to fight his way to wherever they are supposed to go.

"That bastard just turned and left!" Zoro roars, taking out two of his _katana_ from under his dress and brandishing them in a sign of warning to their enemies.

"I guess the nice way doesn't work." Franky sighs, exasperated and whines. "Why do we always need to break our way through things?"

"That's what I've been asking myself ever since I joined up with Luffy!" Usopp cries out in agony, not willing to put up much of a resistance, but not up to the idea of getting caught and imprisoned either.

The Strawhat pirates form a tight circle, facing their soon-to-be captors with determined and battle-ready stances, an unspoken agreement passing between them as they watch their enemies slowly advance. They have to get to the head of the science department no matter what.

" **Wait.** " The simple word reverberates through the air and serves as a shock even to the natives. They turn doubtful gazes towards their superior, silently asking him of the reason for the sudden interruption. The man steps forward this time, fixing the nine strangers with an unrelenting stare and he seems to ponder something.

Robin feels that scorching gaze burn her own brown one, ceaselessly searching for any kind of hint to their real identities. She knows that their language is what threw him off in the first place and turned him back around along with renewed interest. This is their last shot at this and she has to make sure that they find a way to explain everything.

" **Bring them to my office.** " He consents in the end and Robin could have sighed in relief would it not looking too suspicious.

Instead she opts for a small smile and follows the man's retreating form with her gaze. He has already started trekking up the alley, leading the compact circle of soldiers keeping the Strawhats squeezed tightly in place toward the palace. It takes them five more minutes to reach the large doors, but their capturer sidesteps the entrance and makes a left turn, moving with practiced ease under the stone arcades along the polished wall of rock. Robin notes many more entrances which are either guarded or simply sealed off by doors and heavy bolted locks before the throng of people undulates to the right and sweeps her off along with them under a midnight blue mosaic featuring a lone moon and wavy sea.

The marble floors squeak under their footsteps, but these sounds barely register as the frescoed walls make way for a wide wooden door decorated with floral regalia and an intricate looking knob. The official pushes it open without hesitation and steps inside.

" **Leave them here and close the doors!** " He speaks over his shoulder, still awfully rigid and unwilling to offer anything but orders.

But that is to be expected, Robin muses to herself as the soft carpet greets her sandal clad feet and muffles their steps.

The man sporting the helmet looks to be on the verge of fainting.

" **B-But my lord! They-** "

 _Lord, huh?_

" **It's fine.** " A sharp look from him is all that the chief soldier needs to shut his mouth and execute the order.

A heavy latched silence settles above the grand room immediately as the pirates work to get accustomed with the lavishly decorated interior and the cluster of different items arranged in a haphazard manner. Nami is basically drooling at that moment and Robin surreptitiously tries to divert her attention from the too expensive objects thrown about the place in order to prevent any possible thievery that might result with them ultimately in jail.

Franky and Zoro have already made themselves comfortable on a soft looking sofa that is only big enough for the two of them. Usopp and Chopper started to follow Luffy's lead, aiding him in inspecting everything around the room. They look from the wall painted maps to the handmade tall vases and leather-bound books while Brook keeps himself busy by looking over a strange shaped piece of wood that – Robin realizes with no small amount of mirth – can pass for a large music instrument, if the cords attached to its length are anything to go by.

She angles her head to see the last of her crewmates quietly assessing their captor and she follows his lead, letting her brown orbs settle on the man's immobile form. He is leaning against a large office desk full of papers, the probing expression never wavering off his oval face. The archaeologist busiea herself with inspecting the rest of the space until the maddening stillness becomes too much for her. She lets her eyes find his and is surprised by the sudden spark of victory in them.

" **You seem to be the one in charge.** " His words ring through the empty space, startling a few of her distracted friends.

Robin simply raises an eyebrow in return. " **Why are we here?** "

" **What's your name?** " The blunt inquiry leaves her speechless for a moment.

Zoro grunts from his lounging place and Sanji is already in the middle of opening his mouth, no doubt to mouth him off. Inwardly sighing at their quick to irritate wits, she cuts in calmly.

"Robin. **Yours?** " She counters curtly.

It is the man's turn to quirk an eyebrow.

" **Linus.** " He states grudgingly, seeming to not have expected an answer at all.

" **Linus...** " Robin tries the name and finds it surprisingly simple to pronounce. " **Can you help us?** "

Linus remains silent, allowing her to explain herself before he answers her unexpected plea. He is still judging their existence here at all.

" **We are in a strange situation. I know you might not believe us, but we are not from here.** "

The black haired man snorts in contempt. " **Of course you are not! You might handle the language well enough, but your companions don't look like it for sure.** " His sharp gaze trails over the scrunched up faces of concentration the Strawhats have, studying them back with equal intensity. " **Well? What is it you are?** "

Robin braces herself for the inevitable reaction, although a part of her can't help but be tremendously curious what his response will be.

" **We come from the future. Almost one thousand years in the future.** "

Silence rears its fangs for a short amount of time until Robin figures she might as well continue speaking.

" **A strange man sent us here-** "

" **Wait, wait, wait!** " Linus explodes, face caught somewhere between amusement and mockery. " **You are** _ **seriously**_ **telling me that you** _ **traveled**_ **through** _ **time**_ **!** " A snicker manages to escape him this time, earning a few glares from the pirates in return.

" **Yes. Problem?** " Zoro growls, not liking this ridiculously clothed man one bit.

" **We tell the truth!** " Sanji adds, scowling at the cynical bastard.

" **Please help us-** " Nami trails off when Linus bursts in full out laugher.

" **Seems like you're all in on the joke!** " He wipes his eyes, the corners of his mouth dropping into a grim line. " **I must admit – this is a pretty bad lie, even for ordinary spies.** "

"... **Spies?** " Robin chokes, unable to believe how his thought process works. Surely this has to be a misunderstanding, but it is a little too big for her to consider it only their fault. Now she understands why Linus came back and knows that his sudden decision to take them here is to entrap them with no further chance of escape. And they let him, trusting that they might find a way to make him understand and help them.

Seeing the distressed expression on their archaeologist's face, the Strawhats immediately spring into action.

" **What!** " Franky roars, not knowing enough to form a full sentence.

" **...** **Sounded bad, I think.** " Usopp is telling a frenzied Chopper, trying to calm him down without using their native language.

"Robin-" Nami shakes her shoulder, beads of sweat trailing down her forehead and eyes darting to and from her friend to Linus's laidback form, still watching them frigidly.

"What'd he say, Robin?"

The question sounds so awfully familiar, but still too foreign to have a place in a setting like this. Feeling a tap on her other shoulder, Robin turns around to face her captain who is calmly picking his nose, though there is a light of concentration in his eyes that is usually common in such situations. She tries to convey through her gaze the tremendous amount of helplessness that she is experiencing now, some primal instinct inside her head speaking in reassuring whispers that Luffy will make this right.

"Yohoho, it seems that this is not helping our position with **Linus** -san at all!" Brook's trademark laugh is visibly subdued at the back of the room, almost spoken like a hushed warning.

But Luffy is having none of it and Robin fights against that easy road of letting her captain do the bidding where it is not due. This is her problem to deal with because no one can withhold the diplomatic charade. Luffy least of all.

Robin looks in Linus' direction and knows that the skeleton was speaking the truth. The man is clearly tense and a frown is etched deep on his forehead.

But under all this, she is curious. " **You know this language?** "

Her inquiry throws the official off for a second.

" **Of course I know it.** " Linus barks, having regained his composure. " **Don't mistake me for an ignorant, continentals!** "

" **Continentals? You mean those from the continent?** " Nami inquires, smiling proudly when she gets an affirmative answer.

" **So only those living on the continent speak this language?** " Robin taps her chin as she recalls the map Zahra had shown them and tries to put the facts together.

Linus nods warily, eyeing their various mix of surprise and lost reactions with undeterred suspicion.

" **But why do those tribe's people speak your language then?** " Because she is fairly certain that the place they've woken up in was on the continent. Especially now that it is confirmed that their language is spoken there.

The black haired man purses his lips. " **We have conquered some of the towns near the shore and they learned our language as a result.** " His eyes narrow in distaste. " **But this was over a hundred years ago! Why do those bastards keep sending you over and over?!** "

" **Who?** " Sanji, Usopp and even Chopper burst out at the same time, making Linus reel back.

" **Your bosses!** " The official roars, tired of their clueless attitude, though his chest deflates a little bit when his prisoners only continue to give him blank looks that turn out to become quite unnerving. Particularly that black haired kid's with the straw hat that is digging through his nostrils still. He looks capable of murdering someone with that face while eating dinner at the same time. Even so, he ignores it all and _nicely_ tries one last time to make them speak.

" **The damn continentals living in that so-called** _ **Holy**_ _ **Capital**_ **,** Mariejois **!** "

" _Ohh_!" Luffy's finger pops out of his nose with an uncomfortably explicit sound and he smiles widely. "What's up with them?"

Linus waits, but the translation does not come to him willingly. Feeling a vein begin to pulse dangerously in his temple, he turns to Robin with a nasty glower that makes the woman blink.

" **What did he just say?!** "

The archaeologist takes a moment to look at Luffy. Her captain only shrugs, helpless.

" **He asked what is it you want with them?** "

Linus moves his glare back on Luffy. " **I want you to spill all their secrets, of course!** " He raises his head to face the room at large. " **Who are you and what have you been ordered to do here?!** "

Robin bites her lip as the last echoes of his exclamation fade out. She'll be damned if some of his words just don't make sense to her.

" **Robin told you. If you trust us or not is not my problem.** " Zoro intervenes, fixing the pretentious guy with a deadpan stare.

It is obvious to Linus that none of the others are going to add anything else to the guy's words.

He scoffs. " **You expect me to believe you?** "

" **Not our problem if not.** Yohoho!" Brook takes the swordsman's example and happily answers in the same manner.

" **We do not have anything to do with the continentals since all of us have been living on islands until we set out to sea.** " Robin explains patiently. " **This is our captain,** " she rests a hand on Luffy's shoulder, " **and he has already kicked a citizen of** Mariejois **in the face in the future.** "

Linus' jaw hangs open by the end of her statement. He sways unsteadily between Luffy's unconcerned gaze and Robin's amused one with no short amount of doubt.

" **Time travel is impossible.** " Since they do not seem to be joking on the former story, Linus decides to tackle another important point in their conversation. Though he grimaces when his mind counters his own statement right way.

Robin lets her restless captain go join Brook and Usopp in their latest discovery, never once breaking her gaze from Linus'.

" **We thought so, too. But here we are.** "

Her words seem to resonate with the official well enough and the archaeologist feels a new surge of hope wash over her. Maybe now she can make him listen.

" **If you would just listen to our story-** " Robin's words halt as abruptly as Linus' face blanches and looses all color.

All in the space of five seconds.

The black haired woman does not have to turn around to know what is probably happening behind her back and, judging by the snap of rebounding rubber, she is tragically correct.

Nami's hiss of his name interrupts the straw hat wearer from admiring his latest catch – a golden monkey with a big smile on its face and hands full of carved fruits that is almost the same height as Chopper. Brook was the first one to spot it on one of the bookshelves, but even the musician's reach proved to be too short to get to it so the captain had taken it upon himself to remedy the pinch they found themselves into. Angling his head to the side, Luffy blinks innocently when he sees that the rest of his friends are in similar states of incredulity as that Linus man that has caught them. Speaking of the guy, he does not look too friendly in that moment as he takes a series of wide, confident steps toward Luffy. He closes the gap in five strides. As the man draws to a stop in front of him, Luffy wonders if maybe that monkey is that important to him after all.

Smiling amiably and certainly not minding the heat emanating from his stare alone, the pirate captain offers it back to him.

" **Sorry!** "

Linus lifts his hand, presumably to take it back. Luffy is almost prepared to sigh in relief at the aloof face accompanying the gesture. That is, until he finds the corner of his mouth caught by a finger and stretched to its maximum length. An obvious gap between him and normal people becomes awfully visible as the skin keeps on stretching and stretching. He watches as Linus studies him calmly and tries to keep as still as possible, though it is to no avail in the end when his fidgety nature takes hold of him after five minutes tops.

The official sighs and lets the rubbery mouth go when Luffy starts shuffling his feet on his polished floor, creating a series of infernal squeaks from hell. He marches back to his office desk, ignoring the strangers' darned stares boring into his back. A hand goes to ruffle through his already unruly hair in frustration, his mind working a thousand miles per second to make sense of what he has just seen. It isn't that he is shocked – no, he is _stunned_ , _perturbed_ and maybe a little bit _offended_ on the side.

" **I know our captain is a little...** _ **different**_ **. But I can explain!** "

Linus hears that Robin woman speak hurriedly, jolting him out of his thoughts. He has unwillingly ended up behind his desk office with her on its other side. Robin's face is a mask of desperation and her eyes are pleading for him to understand.

Not in the mood to hear any more excuses, he holds up a halting hand to her open mouth.

" **I believe you.** "

Robin chokes back her tears, unable to comprehend how such a simple act as Luffy showing his powers can make him believe their story, but she doesn't dare try her luck.

" **How come?** " Zoro stands up from the couch. He takes slow, deliberate steps toward the man behind the desk.

Linus does not mind the approaching stranger and instead focuses on the kid holding his family's legacy and looking as present as a tree.

" **Who the bloody hell are you, kid?** " He asks, anticipating the nonexistent answer. It seems that he is only capable of understanding that reeking language of theirs. " **Name?** "

His shout is more of an order and it startles Luffy enough to almost make him drop the statue, but the usually carefree teen returns to his friendly personality at once when his brain finally makes the connection. That, and Sanji and Franky making 'cut it' gestures behind Linus' back while Usopp keeps mouthing the translation.

Grinning broadly, the raven head answers the easily irritated guy boldly.

" **I,** Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet you!"

Robin watches Linus' face fall for the second time in ten minutes and feels an alarming need to run away as the first waves of understanding nip at the edges of her mind. He declares it is impossible, but then says he believes them. No matter how she looks at it, there is only a plausible answer – somehow or the other, he knows something about Luffy's powers. The archeologist is sure that she should have intervened earlier, but it is too late now. The ball is already rolling down the hill of disaster and the destination is a miserable plain full of lava where maybe they will be thrown in once this deal is over.

" **Impossible.** " Linus's face does not betray the wide array of emotions raging inside of him.

" **It's the truth.** "

It is Zoro who decides to give said metaphorical ball one last good kick into the abyss with a well formulated grammatical sentence to booth. He crosses his arms, daring the strange man to offer a half assed answer this time.

The black haired official's blank expression does not falter as he lifts his hand, hooks his index finger at the corner of his mouth and pulls it to shocking lengths. The Strawhats' jaws fall open collectively and the sound of rebounding rubber seems to echo forever in their ears.

" **Because this is my power. And I'm Monkey Linus.** "

* * *

"Please tell me that I translated it wrong in my head!" Usopp's desperate whisper easily carries across the still air inside the room.

"Unfortunately," being easily the most collected out of them all, Robin settles on making sure that this revelation won't degrade into another argument, "your proficiency in the language is very remarkable."

Despite the fact that the statement is supposed to be a compliment, the sniper's spirits quickly deflate and burn away to nothingness.

"Eh?" Luffy's back draws up, shoulders squaring as if in preparation of a strike even though he is watching the situation unfold without a clue as to what is going on. An easy-going smile finds its way on his face as he asks in a broken, foreign language he doesn't even have the patience to learn.

" **You** have the same **name kind of me?** **How** come?" Jet black eyes narrow in mock suspicion. "Are **us revealed?!** "

" **Related** is for related, captain." Robin gently corrects him. "You just said you two are revealed."

The raven head blinks and simply breathes out an "Oh." without any meaning or emotion behind it.

"Shit, Luffy and I thought he looked like you." Sanji shakes his head at the ridiculousness of it all. "But seriously!"

"Wha! He looks like me?!" Luffy exclaims, swiveling his head to see if his friends are of the same opinion. Or maybe he is just looking for a mirror in the hoard of things Linus has cluttered in his office.

"But this is probably the only explanation." The archaeologist continues over her captain's shouts, minding how the man behind the massive office table stiffens, tenses and deflates all in that particular order while a hand is raking through his locks and another pulls at his collar.

Now that she looks at it from this perspective, Linus and Luffy have a few things in common appearance-wise that she hasn't had the chance to spot until now. Their eyes and hair are both similar in color, though Linus' hair is already reaching the nape of his neck and cascades over his eyes in disheveled waves. His nose is the same shape too, though the skin tone is way darker than Luffy's. The two are lanky, but the native is a little bit taller and Robin wonders how she didn't see all of these similarities behind the subtle differences that have impeded her to look further into it.

" **You might be our captain's ancestor.** " Robin winces at the bluntness of her well-thought out statement and the overwhelming effect it has on its victim.

Linus jumps and looks at them with a face well worthy of the most distressed of people, looking like he doesn't know how they got in there and what they want from him. The man shakes his head fervently, making his longer hairs sway wildly with the motion.

" **This is too much.** "

In spite of the heavy atmosphere clouding the office, Luffy is full of boundless energy. The pirate captain struts up to the edge of the desk without any consideration for personal space and distance advisable for this kind of situation.

"Do you have a family, too? You're living on Raftel right?! How awesome is that! Hey, where's the D. in your name, though? You don't have it? By the way – did you eat the Gum Gum Fruit?"

Linus lifts up a halting hand in front of the kid's way too close face. He scrunches up his nose at the position he is in – almost all over his desktop – and the joyful smile is not helping matters any. Not to mention that he didn't understand a _shit_ of what the kid has just rapid-fired and it only serves to annoy him further. His eyes shift to Robin, patiently waiting, and grits his teeth. He doesn't like relying on that woman because maybe – just maybe, please Lord make this surely – this is all an invention in the end and they are amazingly good actors despite the fact that none of them really look the part.

She can be easily translating some other shit that the kid hasn't said and he will be none the wiser until it is too late. No, he won't fall for tricks without any real solid evidence. What does he know – maybe they managed to duplicate his innate power, those bastards from the continent. No, he will put a stop to this charade even if he has to learn the language of the continent.

Robin seems to get the general idea behind his stare so he says. " **Translate.** "

The suspicious foreigner smiles thinly and Linus knows that she isn't all that oblivious to his inner thoughts as he has hoped.

" **Our captain asks if you do not have the name D. too.** " The black haired woman abstains from asking the other two very personal questions. It surely won't help them if her suspicions that they haven't yet been fully believed prove to be right.

Linus quirks an eyebrow in confusion. He has never heard of the name D. before.

" **The hell's D? Is this how continentals call us?** "

In retrospect, he should have thought it out better, but whatever. It isn't like he wants to make friends with these people anyway. Robin giggles behind her hand.

" **Probably.** " She answers airily.

The native blinks when a finger invades his field of vision. Luffy's face is contorted into what should have been a serious expression – on a normal person's face.

" **You...** " The rubber man begins, but trails off as he tries to search for another word he knows. " **Eat...** Devil **berry?** "

"How do you know berry, but you don't know fruit?!" Usopp and Sanji yell as one from the back.

" **What is he asking me if I ate a berry?** " Linus asks Robin curiously.

" **He is talking about fruits. Devil Fruits to be exact. Did you eat one?** "

The man's eyes involuntarily narrow on the rubber culprit as he chooses his next words carefully.

" **No, I did not.** " This notion does not seem to shock Robin too much. " **What are Devil Fruits?** "

" **Stop asking stupid things. Take us to Science or we will find it.** " Zoro speaks up suddenly, a hand going under his heavy green shawl to rest on his swords in a gesture of warning.

" **Unfortunately, our friend is right.** " Robin smiles at the way Linus frowns heavily when she confirms that the green haired man near the door is armed and ready to strike. " **I am sure that you have heard of Devil Fruits since you look like an important person around here. As he said,** " she crosses her arms over her chest, summoning four new limbs that sprout from her shoulder blades, **"please take us there or step aside.** "

A few minutes of silence punctuated only by Luffy's incessant swaying in place and Brook's attempts at playing the strange instrument he had discovered have Linus at the edge of his fried nerves and he swears that the gazes boring into him are starting to catch fire. He doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of winning and letting them infiltrate deeper into the castle. But at the same time – when he thinks about it – this is the best place they should be in. Not roaming the streets, but kept under strict surveillance. He supposes that if he plays his cards right and keeps it in a safe zone with at least five soldiers per intruder, there is no chance of escaping or destroying too many things in case a fight breaks out.

Yes, under his watchful gaze they can't leave anywhere and he'll always make sure that they stay glued to each other. So he supposes that he can indulge their stupid pleas and guide them to the Science department. As much as he isn't a fan of that place maybe that idiot head of the department can figure out why the hell they possess such powers in the first place. Now that Robin woman presses on with her faux powers that seem too real and he feels this... whatever it is, is going too fast and too far for him to be completely comfortable living through.

The black haired man clears his throat, making sure to not look at the rubber kid picking his nose again lest he'll lose hope for his future. He steps away from the desk.

" **Alright. But it will be done under** _ **my**_ **conditions.** "

Not holding any qualms about showing his powers – they already know _all_ about them, he is sure – he extends his hand all the way to the other side of the room and bangs on it loud and hard. As expected, a soldier opens it just as his arm returns to its normal size.

" **Sir?** "

" **Surround them and follow me. Make sure none of them gets away!** " Linus commands as he exits the room first. " **If they aren't nine by the time we arrive at the Volcano, some of you will lose their heads!** "

The chief soldier gulps and nods.

"Hey, old man! Can I take the monkey?" Luffy yells after Linus' retreating form, but is not once acknowledged.

Nami slaps him over the head and tells him to let it go. Pouting heavily, Luffy falls to the back with Franky and Brook.

"I believe that it will be better if you leave it here. Lest you risk bringing damage to it, Luffy-san." The joyful skeleton pats the younger pirate on the back reassuringly.

"Brook's right, bro. You can just come back and see it later." Franky wisely advises as he follows his crewmates out of the door, making a point of glaring at the men all around them.

The rubber pirate nods hesitantly and deposits the statue back on the ground. He promises it that he'll come back, though he never stops pouting in protest.

They pass by a series of other spacious hallways, each one decorated in a radically different style than the others. None of the works of art and design even remotely blend with one another. The abrupt change whenever they pass into another room is almost nauseating, but Robin is of another opinion.

"It just demonstrates the vast culture of this kingdom." She explains to her friends, eyes alight.

"Or maybe they just don't know how to decorate." Usopp whispers to Chopper who is perched on Zoro's shoulders. The two nod sagely in return.

After ten minutes of continuous walking and seeing nothing but furniture, protests from Luffy predictably spring up from the back, mingling with Usopp's own mumbles on random things that have caught his eye. Linus is already sick of it five minutes later when they exit the building and are in the middle of traversing the courtyard, stealthily making their way around the officials' offices on the less popular path that will be able to hide their significant numbers. It's late in the evening so people are either still working or have already gone back home.

The first tower has just sprung up from behind the corner when he hears it. Loud and clear. It is a fleeting wish to hope that he has imagined it, but when his name is clearly shouted out for the second time from behind, Linus knows that his masterful sneaking has been in vain after all and resigns himself to his fate.

" **Lord Draco!** "

As one, the soldiers step away to make way for the newly arrived. Linus' eye twitches when he realizes who it is.

" **Father.** " He inclines his head out of respect. " **What brings you here?** "

Both decidedly ignore the sputtering coming from the glob of soldiers and, incidentally, the Strawhat pirates. The older man does not need to know that, though. The tall, black haired official nods and smiles serenely at him.

" **I was just passing by. It's so rare to catch you out and about. Are you paying** _ **him**_ **a visit?** "

Linus sniffs in disdain, a motion that makes him feel like he is ten years old again. " **Hardly.** " He allows reluctantly." **I have some business to attend to in the Volcano.** "

" **I see you have guests, Linus!** " A woman's voice chirps from behind Draco and a face immediately appears to match it. " **Are you telling me that** _ **he**_ **'s given you an important job?** " She teases, a smirk crawling its way on her face.

The young woman is petite, easily blending behind the taller men. She has a shawl over her head that she takes off, revealing long, curly orange locks.

" _ **Mellorine**_ **~!** "

"You mean that you know the word for _that_ in _this_ language?!" Usopp cries out as quietly as he can, one hand tugging at his hair while the other yanks at Sanji's clothing to keep him from assaulting that pretty lady.

Ignoring the ruckus behind her, Robin studies the fair young woman with eyes the color of the sea, round and shining and a slim body dressed in a silk white dress with another colorful semi-transparent shawl draped over her shoulders. She is holding a thick book in her arms, having no qualms about not keeping a respectable distance from who, Robin guesses, is her superior.

Linus' dad, the archeologist has to admit, looks almost exactly like their captain's own father – the revolutionary Dragon from their time. Which is eerie and completely scary if she is going to be entirely honest. He certainly sports the long hair part, though what keeps the tattoo's place is a scar from the corner of his left eye that trails along his neck and under his white shirt. And he looks the tough man part, too.

Draco smiles in amusement at the sputtering glob that is his son and the winning grin his secretary has. Those two can never get along, can they?

" **Now, Laelia, don't aggravate him further. I have trust that Linus knows what he's doing best.** "

Linus stops short, straightens his back and throws the irritating woman one last glare before inclining his head toward the other respectfully.

" **Thank you father. Now if you will excuse us-** "

" **Governor!** "

The trio looks to the caller, a man with a violent green mohawk hairstyle and green tinged sunglasses who is approaching with a noticeable skip in his step.

"He's dressed normally like us, though..." Chopper's remark trails off into nothingness because the sheer impossibility at pulling off such a look is beyond zero point one percent whatever era you live in.

"Robin, what is that?" Nami hisses a little too audibly, causing a few soldiers to shoot her warning glares. The orange head could care less in that moment, though, since she is too preoccupied with assisting Usopp in stopping an impending love ballad by their love-struck cook for the 'fair **Laelia'**.

"Governor." Robin replies. "It seems that Draco-san is the governor of this island."

"Meaning a high-ranked official." Zoro concludes as he crosses his arms behind his head. "You seemed pretty attentive to the guy." The swordsman eyes the archeologist critically. "Anyone you _might_ know?"

Robin releases a soft snort. "That man is in the same situation as our captain."

She angles her head to look at Zoro's raised eyebrow. He could never let go of his curiosity about the Revolutionaries. "He bears much resemblance to Luffy's own father, Dragon the revolutionary. Though that is when the similarities stop. Because this man is clearly not a world-renowned criminal."

"You never know, Robin." Franky says dryly and fixes his sunglasses up on his nose, more at ease now that they have proof these existed in this time, too.

Robin is about to answer the ridiculous assumption, but freezes when her eyes meet Draco's. It is the first time he has looked in their direction and she can't help but feel a bead of sweet trail down her spine. Every instinct she possesses scream that this man is as dangerous as they come and she honestly believes it when she finds herself standing under that scorching black stare. The historian abstains from sighing in relief when he finally breaks eye contact and gulps a much needed breath of air.

"You felt it too, right?" Zoro's question brings her back to reality and she nods, still a little wobbly. She catches his hand clenching around the hilt of Wado from the corner of her eye and knows that the swordsman will be watching out for this man. As will she.

" **Well then, see ya' later!** " Laelia winks in Linus' direction and lifts her enclosed hand as if to throw something at him.

The Strawhats tense, but their host remains impassive under the sparkly shower that seems to erupt from the palm of her hand which compromises of small spheres of light – courtesy of the annoyingly persistent woman who has made it her personal mission to tease the hell out of him. He will never understand the kind of people his father works with.

Shaking his head slowly after their departing forms, Linus turns his head and finds dumbstruck faces that belongs to his current... _chores._ And immediately regrets turning at all. _Why, oh, why him?_

In the end he huffs in discontent. " **Come and don't cause a ruckus.** "

He is pleased to see that they follow him obediently enough.

* * *

They finally arrive at the so-called **'Volcano'** – which proves to be a circular building shaped exactly like one and thus deserving of the name – and enter through a conspicuously named door that spells **'Exit'**. Linus insists that they are not officials on business or anyone too important and so makes sure to remind them that he still doesn't trust their intentions or their freakishly fictional story. Usopp lifts a finger up in protest and wants nothing more than to remind Luffy's _freakish_ ancestor himself about his _not-at-all freakish, of course_ powers that don't, apparently, come from a Devil Fruit.

But now the Strawhats are captives here. And judging by the sturdy walls of steel, now with no escape.

Nami continues to look out of the nearest window whenever they pass by one and sees the 'cone' of the thing. It has a large circumference closed off with glass, and it's smaller than the encompassing walls like a snail in a shell. She figures that they are inside the outer wall that is a large, almost cavernous structure which does not give any good vibes no matter how you look at it. It's obvious that it stops or allows 'official entrance' to presumed visitors. Not for the first time, the navigator is sure to direct a burning glare at the back of Linus' head. Even if the man is supposedly Luffy's ancestor, though even this is at the stage of theory only, he proves to be an annoying little prick with trust issues. Unlike their captain, who is annoying but means well most of the time and especially when it matters. And he smiles not scrunches up his nose or scowls like a certain somebody is prone to do.

" **I question what power she has**. Hmm..." Brook breaks the silence with a joyous hum of melody, handing the little notebook back to Robin in silent gratitude.

" **It was all... light.** " Zoro tries, but gives up when he can't find the right word.

" **Sparkly, maybe?** Sparkly." Robin offers and receives a grateful nod from the swordsman in return.

" **Sparkly, sparkly!** " Chopper agrees happily, clapping his hoofs." **Maybe she light power?** "

" **Probably. I wonder who has this in the present.** " Usopp ponders, rubbing his chin like he is trying to summon all the answers.

" **I have feeling it that guy in** Sabaody."Franky scowls at the sour memory of their asses getting beaten and sent to the five corners of the world.

"Eh?" Luffy's head snaps up from whatever he has been doing with his head bent down to that unfortunate angle. "Why's everyone speaking in that mystery language?"

He gets himself a fist over the head for his wonderings.

" **Because we have to mix with the other people!** " Nami barks at the clueless idiot.

" **Kind of late for that now.** " Linus snorts, but never falters in his rapid pace through the deserted hallways. " **But it is admirable to see you are trying. You were close by the way. That** _ **woman**_ **can control light.** "

"Light." Robin translates. She raises an eyebrow. " **You seem rather disgruntled, Linus.** "

Linus scoffs and ignores her. He doesn't feel obligated to explain anything to her.

"Light?" Luffy's head falls to the side. "Like that Kizaru guy, right?"

" **Seems so.** " The cyborg grunts.

" **What did he say that it 'seems so'?** " The official turns his head and – _oh, there it is_ , Nami thinks – he frowns at them.

" **A man named** Kizaru **from our time has this kind of powers."** Robin helpfully details. **"He can control light at will and move at blinding speeds.** "

Linus raises an eyebrow, but continues to remain otherwise unresponsive.

" **This guy irritates me.** " Sanji mumbles, rolling an unlit cigarette between his lips stressfully. " **But that** _ **mellorine**_ **was such a beauty!** " The cook coos, eyes already transformed into beating hearts.

In front of the group, Linus discretely mimics repeatedly throwing up at the guy's stupid bouts of gushing over someone he hadn't even met in person. Linus kind of envies him for this.

* * *

It was fifteen minutes of continuous walking through incessant halls and connecting archways before they arrive at a nondescript metal door displaying nothing but the inscription for the number one on it. Linus opens it without knocking and the soldiers step aside obediently to allow them entrance in what seems like another world.

There is technology everywhere you look, ranging from machines to several doubtful substances flowing through loops of tubes and a variety of tools sometimes glimpsed in Franky's own arsenal. The shipwright himself whistles at the piece of future in the very past that greets him. He lifts his sunglasses in order to inspect a cutting machine that is carving through rock as his friends further examine the room at large.

None of them are remotely in touch with the equipment here, but they can understand the probability of finding such things here would be virtually null under normal circumstances. Or is it?

" **Is that really you?!** " A man's voice that is decidedly not Linus', cries from one corner of the room.

Then clanks and chinks follow along with the sound of things probably breaking or colliding with other hard surfaces before a middle-aged man, dressed in contrastingly simple clothes consisting of brown pants and a shirt, stumbles out from the mess. He catches the grumpy official standing in the middle of the mess that is the room in a bear hug.

The Strawhats can only make out his dirty blond hair and freckled face under the cascade of tears that flows from his eyes.

" **Stop this already!** " Linus shouts and hauls the man back on his feet. He clicks his tongue, trying hard not to rearrange his disheveled clothes. " **I swear this is why I don't ever visit you!** "

The scientist laughs merrily as he wipes his eyes and attempts to straighten his rumpled white shirt, though it seems like a lost cause.

" **Sorry, sorry! But I still can't believe you're here-** "

Linus rolls his eyes, already tuning him out. Unfortunately, this allows his mind to register other things such as the sharp intake of breath that comes from the group behind him. It can only be possible if at least three of those crazy pirates would inhale in unison and _how the hell can someone even do this unconsciously?_

The Strawhats part under his accusatory gaze until he is staring at the troublemaking kid that they call their captain.

The straw hat wearer sports a peculiarly shocked and troubled expression that Linus doesn't dare start to question lest he'll want to lose half a day doing so. It looks like the kid's seeing a very well projected ghost. But Linus doesn't believe in ghosts – or well, at least he doesn't _yet_. After today he's totally prepared to find one, too.

So he simply turns fully around to face the group and notes with approval that the guards have closed the door and remained obediently outside. He lifts a hand to introduce the man shifting from foot to foot next to him.

"S-Sab-"

" **This is Sappho. He is the head of the science department that you've been so adamant to meet.** " Despite the lingering smugness swimming inside his chest, Linus is becoming concerned over the level of shock that emanates from the group at large now. It _is_ like that they are seeing a ghost.

" **Why the hell are you all looking like idiots now?** " He asks dryly.

"Ah, **it is just that someone we know looks like him.** " Zoro inwardly congratulates himself for pulling that sentence out right at first try.

" **Really? I'm kind of surprised.** " Sappho scratches his cheek in embarrassment before a warm smile blooms on his face.

Linus is taken aback by the sudden outward display of emotions. He knows the man better than that to know that he wouldn't normally act like this, but Sappho's next statement shakes him to the core.

" **I'm happy to finally meet you! I've been waiting for the** 'Strawhat' **pirates to arrive.** "


	4. Chapter 4

The blond haired man keeps on smiling long after his sudden declaration is over. He looks like he has all the patience and time in the world and he takes advantage of it to study the dumbfounded time travelers standing in front of him. That is, until the rambunctious group explodes into a myriad of exclamations and demands, all addressed to him.

In spite of the ruckus, Linus simply gapes. The only sign that he is still remotely there is the cyclical opening and closing of his mouth that must look decidedly stupid, but he doesn't care. Hell, he can care less right now.

His gaze moves from a random spot on the tiled floor to the man he had thought he knew everything about and finds himself encompassed by an overwhelming array of feelings that can't be healthy.

"This Sabo knows us, too?!"

The idiot pirate captain is yelling at the top of his lungs in a language that reflexively makes Linus nauseous and causes his blood to curl whenever he hears it. This language is their worst enemy and yet the blond bastard has _brought them here intentionally_.

"Wait a moment. What the hell is **this**? **What.** "

The orange haired woman, who looks to be holding the most common sense out of them all, is sputtering like an idiot, interchanging between words and sentences, mingling their language with that defilement of a speech. _All of them are doing that._

" **I believe that mister Sappho will explain us everything, right?** "

Nico Robin's smile is as transparent and plastic as everything about her speaking his ancestors' tongue without any qualms about showing it proper respect and he knows, _knows_ that she wants to learn everything about this island and their secrets. And then go blab about it to those _continentals_.

He doesn't need to look far to spot the head of braided blond hair and his hand snaps toward the neck beneath like a snake toward its prey with enough force to pin the older man to the table full of metal junk behind him. There are a few cracks and clinks as some of the parts fall off, but Linus only feels the fingers of his other hand clenching and unclenching, maybe drawing blood but who the hell cares in that moment. He concentrates on keeping his other hand firmly attached to that Sappho's neck and his temper sparks when he finds the other man completely calm in the face of his fury.

The room has become completely silent and the official knows that those intruders are balancing their options right now, thinking they can stop him from killing this traitorous bastard.

" **What t' fuck's all this?!"** He spits the words like venom in a rapid fire of syllables that build accusations and many, many promises of pain. **"Are you tellin' me you're the one who's brought 'em 'ere?!** "

" **Calm down, Linus. Your dialect's resurfacing!** " Sappho tutts and is not in the least concerned about the raging man that is attempting to strangle the answers out of him.

Linus sees red and white. And he damn hates that combination. " **Answer. The goddamn. Question!** "

Sappho seems to make up his mind and nods slowly.

" **Sure will! But first you release me and we make up-** " He is stopped when his upper body is suddenly yanked up and pressed back again over the crowded table. " **Come now, Linus! This hurts...** "

" **Leave him.** "

Linus feels the cold blade belonging to the green head press against his neck and he grits his teeth, wanting to smack the bastard again – for his personal satisfaction this time. But he decides against it for the moment. It won't do to get killed and leave the island to be furthermore freely infiltrated. It takes all his willpower to untangle his fingers from Sappho's neck and when his hand finally falls back to his side, Linus exhales and closes his eyes. He tries to regain a somewhat figure of calm, at least for appearance's sake and wills all the masochistic images to disappear from his mind and leave it clear.

" _ **Aw**_ **. Look at him!** "

Without any disquiet about having been almost killed by Linus, the scientist pinches Linus' cheeks like one would a kid's, never once stopping his cooing over how adorable the man apparently looks when he is angry.

The Strawhats blink and Zoro steps back hesitantly with an uncomprehending expression on his face.

" **HE JUST TRIED T'KILL YOU!** " Usopp screams then and points two accusatory index fingers, one for each of the two freaks in front of him.

The sniper has quickly come to the conclusion that this island – no, this past world, whatever the hell _this_ was – is too freaking strange and twisted for his taste and weak to invented diseases immune system. There are people that somewhat resemble his captain and are murderers and then there's people who try to get killed by said murderers and apparently are Luffy's not-dead-brother-anymore look-alikes!

 _Just great._

Shockingly, Sappho beams. " **Yes, he sometimes tries to do that.** "

 _He just admitted it!_

" **Alright, time out!** " Sanji declares, gesturing with his hands the universal sign of a pause. " **What is with you two?** "

Linus chooses that moment to slap the intruding limbs away. He glares once more at Sappho before he trudges to an unoccupied chair at the back of the room, sits down and rests his forehead in his hands.

" **Sappho was my babysitter.** "

" **Really?!** " Chopper, Brook and Usopp shout out, all with different levels of shock and incredulity.

"So **Sappho** 's made him a murderer, or-" Usopp starts, but is unable to finish because the warning look Nami throws his way is enough to make him gulp back his words.

Luffy's head lifts at the new volume the replies are spoken in and starts to tug at Sanji's sleeve in order to get him to translate Linus' words for him. He is nevertheless shocked at the news, if the late exclamation he repeats is anything to go by.

" **So you are a scientist** _ **and**_ **a babysitter?** " Nami tries, but she can't fathom why someone would want to leave their kid with Sappho. Sure, she hasn't known him for very long but first impressions aside, she can easily guess that he isn't the best at this particular job just by looking at how Linus turned out.

" **Yes, times were hard.** " Sappho shrugs." **I used to take care of Linus because Draco and I are old friends. It worked out somehow.** " He chuckles, a more serious air mingling along with his cheery attitude.

" **Now please sit and let's talk.** "

" **Alright.** " Robin readily agrees, glad to finally start learning all the facts. She glides along the workshop until she stands next to Linus.

Robin scans the perimeter, in the middle of searching for more chairs when said object literally slides along the floor by itself along with several others for her friends.

"Thanks Robin!" Usopp lifts a grateful hand as he takes a seat, only to find himself having to wrestle Luffy out of it first.

"Robin- _chwan_ , you are as wonderful and thoughtful as always!" Sanji coos, but at the sight of the archeologist's raised eyebrows he draws to a halting stop.

As do the others. Everyone stares at Robin while she stares right back at them until Nami points to something behind her.

"I-Isn't that your-" The navigator trails off, hands flying to her mouth in horror at the implications.

Robin turns around and sees it, too. On the floor, a bodiless limb sprouts from the tiles like a shy flower from cement. It waves at them before it bursts into pink petals that fade into nothing once they touch the bluish tiles.

" **Sorry, sorry.** " Sappho laughs at their dumbstruck faces." **It was fun seeing your reaction.** "

The scientist scratches the back of his head uncomfortably and sits down on a chair facing them.

Robin crosses her arms with a smirk and summons a hand of her own to pat the scientist on the head soothingly. The man yelps and looks back with wide, calculating eyes as he glances from her to the limb and back.

She can't abstain from adding. " **Do not worry about it.** "

" **Amazing!** " Sappho exclaims, gaze twinkling like a starry sky. " **So the Devil Fruits' experiment is going to be a success!** "

Linus snorts and bats away the accusatory glares coming from the people he had just lied to.

" **You! You said you did not know of them!** " Nami purses her lips, itching to place her hands on her hips or maybe better – kick his ass.

The temperamental Monkey family member shrugs indifferently.

Sappho extracts a small object from the pocket of his pants.

" **I believe that this is what brought you here.** "

Between his fingers dangles a simple, round, dark red stone pendant with swirls encrusted into it.

" **That's...** " Robin closes her mouth, not entirely sure she should say that the stone is reminiscent of the one the Road Poneglyph on Zou was made of.

" **Like a Poneglyph, right?** " The scientist grins at their baffled faces. " **We've already started shipping most out in the world. Anyway, think of this pendant as a self-standing Devil Fruit!** "

The historian stares at the man with wide eyes as she tries to wrap her mind about the implications.

" **So you know...?** " Robin trails off and looks at Linus' narrowed eyes.

Sappho's smile is sour. " **It is unavoidable now, I am afraid.** " He pauses as his attention shifts back to the loud group. " **What do you think is the way to immortality?** "

The blunt and out of context question leaves the Strawhat pirates speechless and highly suspicious. Of course, all but their clueless captain who still can only barely understand half of what is going on. Linus tries to mask his bewilderment with something more comfortable – irritation.

"Uh... **live always-** no, no, that's not the word." Usopp clicks his tongue, intrigued by now as he leafs through Robin's notebook quickly, eyes scanning for the right one. "That's it! **Live forever.** " The sniper declares, proud about his discovery.

Sappho inclines his head in agreement. " **That is true, but how does one achieve that?** "

He lifts up several fingers when he is sure that both Robin and the long nosed guy have all the words translated. One of them is already folded down for Usopp's earlier suggestion.

" **Age alteration, time travel, genetic changes or conservation. As far as we know.** "

" **What the hell has this to do with their situation?** " Linus grounds out, gesturing towards the increasingly confused pirates. Most of them are struggling to catch up with the upper level vocabulary the blonde has just used.

Sappho scratches his cheek sheepishly. " **Sorry. I am trying to explain to you how this happened.** "

Robin smiles kindly. " **It is fine. I understood most of it, but please explain in simpler terms. I will translate the rest if my friends do not understand.** "

Nodding, the man picks up from where he left off, throwing a grumbling Linus a playful wink that goes decidedly ignored.

" **I said this was a Devil Fruit.** " He lifts the pendant in the air again. " **It was made from a person's powers, just like all the others.** "

" **So Devil Fruits are from people powers.** " Nami concludes. Now the mystery of why these people possessed her crewmates' powers is solved, though that is one question out of hundreds.

" **This is one of those 'big' powers I tried to tell you about. Understand?** " Sappho is surprised to see five of them nodding along. He smiles. " **This is-** "

" **There are five people other than the king who have any say in how this place works.** " Linus interrupts, having figured out that Sappho's roundabout way of telling things will only make the explanation harder to understand in the end. " **These people possess powers that grant them a sort of eternal life.** "

" **Sort of?** " Usopp inquires, now completely into it.

Linus fixes a scrutinizing stare that dares the sniper to open his mouth again while he speaks. The teen gulps and grudgingly refrains.

" **If they would choose not to use their powers, they can die.** "

" **Or if you stab them to death or something it might work, too!** " Sappho pipes in happily, but is rewarded with a sharp slap over the head.

" **And you have used those powers to bring us here. Why?** " Robin prods, pencil and notebook posed to write.

The blond man blinks and frowns. " **But I did not bring you here!** " He protests mildly." **This little thing is only an experiment at the moment.** "

He shakes the chain a little, making it rattle.

" **Cut the crap!** " Zoro's jaw is clenched and he is not in the mood for any other stupid parables. " **How we come here then?** "

"That man could have brought us, no?" Sanji intervenes, one hand covering his captain's face to prevent him from speaking anymore. Seeing his friends are on the same page about his theory, he directs his attention to the other two awaiting in relative patience. " **There was man back in the... future? Yes, that. He made us come here.** "

The cook's eye twitches and he slaps his forehead in frustration. " _Argh_! It's freaking hard to speak in such a roundabout way! This is pissing me off."

"You're not the only one, stupid cook." Zoro grunts and crosses his arms, leaning back in his seat. "For all I know, these two idiots might be planning our deaths and I wouldn't understand a word of it if they didn't want me to."

Robin's smile is full of mirth. "Indeed, but the same thing also applies to us speaking in front of them like this. They still think that we are here to infiltrate their country." The archaeologist looks at Zoro square in the eye. "We must make them understand that we are the ones who really need their help. Especially Luffy's ancestor. He still seems to not believe our story."

"He'll come around, I'm sure." Franky speaks for the first time since they've arrived. Behind the sunglasses, his eyes never leave the strange machine sitting in his hands.

"But Luffy is obviously from his family!" Nami tries to make a point, but it does not help much since there is nothing her black haired friend can really do to prove it. So she moves her stare to her completely bored captain. "Maybe Luffy can do _something_..."

"But he doesn't even understand _half_ of what's going on!" Usopp aims to state the obvious. "How is he going to do that?"

" **Huh. This really is the continentals' language!** " Sappho's mouth is slightly agape as his eyes take on an excited glint that Nami has seen in Franky or Usopp whenever they come up with a new invention. " **But it's obvious who brought you here.** "

Eight heads snap up at his statement and the scientist shifts in his chair uncomfortably.

"Luffy-san did!"

As one, eight jaws fall open.

At the mention of his name, Luffy looks up in confusion. He understood what Sabo-not-Sabo has said this time, but he has no clue what he had done. He doesn't remember anything too especially important anyway. They are talking about the guy who brought them here, but what does this have to do with him? And damn, are Sanji's hands aiming at his neck?

"What did I do?!" For once in his life, Luffy is scared of his friends' disappointed and accusing stares pointed dead at him.

"Luffy **was right in front of us when it happened. He couldn't have-** "

Sappho's head tilts. " **But of course he was. Both of them.** "

Robin's mind reels to a stop for a moment as it tries to comprehend the reason for Sappho's enunciation, but it soon becomes crystal clear to her. Because she is not one to kick away the more absurd and impossible theories like the one swimming through her mind right about now. It isn't possible – _couldn't_ , _shouldn't_ – but the fact is sitting right in front of them. If travelling to the past is indeed a possibility, of course it should be conceivable for the distant future to come to their timeline and then send them in the distant past. Because this is just so much easier, the archaeologist thinks with heavy-laced sarcasm.

"I'm going to have to ask you to listen calmly." She tries to not let her distress show through, but it is tough when her friends' scared eyes are asking her just what the hell does she know that they don't want to.

"You know I'm going to freak out either way, right?" Usopp makes it clear just for the hell of it. He is nevertheless backed up by Nami and Chopper's fervent nods.

Robin does not wait for any further denials of her plea.

"The man we all are probably talking about, if **Sappho** -san is right, is probably Luffy's future self. He must have come to his past to send us in the distant past."

As expected, the Strawhats' sniper has his hands in his hair already and his teeth are chattering. Franky's sunglasses slide dangerously down his nose, but go unnoticed. Nami and Chopper are on the brink of crying while Zoro rubs at his temples with a vengeance in a desperate attempt at therapy. Brook is in the midst of interrogating Luffy about it and Sanji decides to fuck all of this and lights himself a much needed cigarette.

" **I see you guys are getting used to it already!** " Sappho leans over to pat Robin's knee kindly.

" _Why the hell would he do this?!_ " The swordsman of the crew asks when he thinks he has gotten a hang on the fact that this bottomless pit they are in is because of their captain. _Again_.

The blond scientist seems to have intuited his words. " **I am sure** Luffy-san **that has his reasons. He has come here as well, once, and I have met him. That is why I knew you would come here in the first place!** "

The man winces when most of the pirates groan at his story, but he plods on, intent on getting to the bottom of it. " **But since you are here, I have already spoken to everyone that needs to know and we will help you find a way back! For the moment, though, we humbly request that you will aide us in the steadily growing conflict between us and the continentals.** "

Linus glares daggers at his former caregiver. " **'Everyone that needs to know', huh? I guess I'm in on the joke now, too, or what?** "

Sappho's head snaps up with a look of mingled shock and guilt.

" **You are always busy and never have time to meet me! So how could I tell you this?"** He whines." **But yes, you are in on the joke big time.** " He grins slyly and Linus feels the first waves of incoming doom assault him. " **You've been tasked to take care of them!** "

Linus' opens his mouth to a silent scream, but the older man's attention is already back on the time travelers.

"Robin, please translate that shit. His mouth was going one thousand miles per hour, I swear!" Zoro moans, igniting a kick in the shin from Sanji's disgruntled form.

"They will find us a way back, but for the moment they are asking us nicely to help them in the war against the Celestial Dragons." The historian relays dutifully, scribbling a few things as she speaks.

"Great. Now we have to risk our lives, too! Damn you, Luffy!" Usopp releases a painful cry.

"Aw, c'mon you guys! It's going to be fun! This place's fun!" Never one to refuse such an opportunity, Luffy is practically bouncing in his seat to go adventuring now that they've been given permission to.

"Fun for you!" Nami croaks out through her tears.

"I believe," Brook begins carefully, "that this might be our best opportunity. I doubt that they will simply let us freeload and do nothing."

"I agree with Brook!" Chopper announces, drying his eyes. He does not like it here very much, but if he is with his friends then he knows it will be alright. So they should aim to make Linus and Sappho like them, too. Although he has a feeling that the blond likes them well enough already.

Franky sighs and nods, his mind back on the little machine he was tweaking with earlier and Sanji grimaces, knowing they are right. But still, he does not find it in him to be happy or excited about it.

" **I will leave you a few minutes to settle down. In the meantime, I will bring water.** " Sappho smiles amiably and clicks his fingers. Bodiless limbs sprout from various surfaces of the room, passing along a tray already filled with glasses. " **I do not have coffee, unfortunately.** "

Linus snorts, but nevertheless sips at his drink. " **Unmannered as always.** "

The scientist pouts and is about to refute his statement when a sudden argument erupts in the middle of the room. He turns in time to listen with a huge amount of interest as the nonsense sounds escalate into a full-fledged tirade. They have never aimed to focus on studying the continentals before, something which Sappho truly regrets right about now. But this is as good an opportunity as ever.

" **What should I do with them?** "

Linus' wonderings snap him from the scientific activity of gawking at the talking pirates without any qualms about how he must look like and he glances to the side to see the kid staring at the space in front of him, probably going through countless ideas. Since he is feeling particularly helpful today, Sappho is ready to offer some of his own advice.

" **Well, you will need a place to accommodate them. Maybe the Monkey family manor-** "

" **Are you crazy?!** " Linus hisses lowly, predictably. " **You have any clue what will happen if** _ **certain**_ **people that** _ **live**_ **there** **will find out about this?** "

Sappho can't find anything wrong with those _certain people_ knowing so he shrugs. " **Probably try to adopt them in the worst case scenario.** "

" _ **Exactly**_ **!** " The raven head throws his arms in front of his face and the blond knows now that the kid is on the brink of desperation.

Oh well, too bad for him.

" **But you have to keep an eye on them, so it's the obvious thing to do!** " Sappho insists, quite ready to end this argument. The sounds from the time travelers are slowly dying out and they need to move the discussion to more uneven grounds soon. He will have to prepare all the patience in the world for his explanation to not end up in utter material destruction.

Linus crosses his arms, a twisted grimace on his face, though he doesn't offer much in return so Sappho is sure that he will use the next hours to steam over it.

" **Do you know how the fishmen appeared?** "

Robin's head snaps up at the abrupt change of topic, but she is nevertheless interested.

"What's he said?" Luffy shocks his friends by whispering instead of simply asking out loud, but Usopp pins it to the fact that Sappho reminds his captain of his older brother so much that his respect is automatically higher.

 _Lucky guy_ , the sniper concedes.

"What's that word, Robin?" He asks over Nami's head, leaving Sanji and Brook to argue about some of the words used in the sentence.

"Fishmen." The archaeologist answers absently, tearing a fresh page out of her notebook and handing the rest to him.

Usopp takes it gratefully and starts translating the whole thing again for the rest of them.

" **No.** " Nami takes it upon herself to answer the cryptic question while her friends decipher the last of the message.

The blond nods in acknowledgement and inhales a deep breath.

" **It happened a long time before our people first discovered Raftel. The fish populating this area first started showing signs of intelligence by forming colonies that were not based on their species, but on social norms. This evolved along with them until they ultimately became part human. That was about the time we came around, but instead of the usual war over territory they welcomed us kindly and we lived along them in peace.** "

"And there wasn't any war, I think." Usopp relays to his captain. "That's the most I caught of it."

"I think he said something about peace too, y'know?" Franky rubs his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't understand why he has to tell us this shit, anyway." Sanji sighs and leans back in his seat with a disgruntled huff.

" **Now, hundreds of years into the future,** " Sappho fingers the hem of his shirt absently, **"the clans that first founded this kingdom all have powers like me and Linus.** "

" **How did it happen?** " Robin taps her pencil on the page impatiently, creating a pattern unlike a constellation of black dots. " **Does every clan have a special kind of power?** "

Sappho shakes his head. " **Every person has different powers, it's usually impossible to predict it until the kid is born. Only the royal family has had a certain type of power that did not change much over time. Many of our ancestors believed that a goddess of the sea thrust these powers upon them, but we have arrived at an altogether another conclusion not too long ago.** "

"And they got to a conclusion." Usopp is almost on the brink of a brain short-circuit from the amount of foreign information that needs to be translated and taken in real time.

"What the fuck's he talking about?" Zoro's eye is wide, his expression one of utter incredulity. He has understood most of it, but is lost on why the guy is storytelling in the first place when they have other things to worry about. Like the imminent world war if he has his facts right. Or the fact that they can very well be screwing over the entire world by being here in the first place. Or, hey, maybe their biggest problem yet – _getting back to their time_.

"That shithead better not be running his mouth without purpose or I'm killing him." Sanji grumbles, for once in harmony with the swordsman.

"Yohoho! I consider this to be rather interesting." Brook tries his best to diffuse their flaming spirits even if just a little bit for the sake of gaining as much understanding of this place as they can. "I believe that Sappho-san is attempting to try and make us understand the story of this kingdom."

Seeing as they were done with their talk, the scientist continues.

" **The big rock sitting underneath this building has been revered as a heaven-sent monument, but my research proved that it is entirely something else.** " The man pauses to rest his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. " **I believe this stone is the one that granted the fish the human power of thought and understanding and us the powers we have today. Its influence over the living things populating these four islands has been significant over the centuries.** "

"And they granted them their powers-"

" _Whaaa_!" Luffy's jaw is hanging open comically, his eyes bulged out of his head as he works to comprehend the story he is being told. "So this mystery rock's granting awesome powers! Let's go get some, too!"

"We can't, Luffy!" Chopper derails his captain immediately. "It doesn't work that way. He said that it happened over hundreds of years! **"**

The rubber man pouts sadly.

"Besides, you already have powers! You don't need any more of them." Nami huffs over his incessant whining.

Luffy sniffs over his newly destroyed adventure plan.

" **That necklace. Is it made from this stone?** " Robin inquires, scribbling down a few ideas.

" **Yes. We only cut four small pieces from it to experiment with them as part of our 'Poneglyph' project.** " Sappho details helpfully.

"Poneglyph. Something about Poneglyphs." The Strawhats' sniper chants to himself, turning pages in a mad dash to find the right words. " _Ugh_. Robin! We need to organize this thing!"

"Four **...** " Nami begins, uneasiness crawling through her chest.

"Poneglyphs." Zoro finishes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I feel I know where this is going."

" **We only shipped one out and placed it on the walking elephant –** Zunisha **.** "

Sappho stops and blinks at their collective groan.

"I fucking knew it! Damn it." Zoro keeps saying with the air of a disappointed parent.

"Shit, shit, shit and I thought we were in the clear!" Sanji fumbles with the lighter, deciding that another cigarette is very much needed.

"So this is like the Minks' story too or what?" The navigator asks apparently no one.

Hesitating, but taking the sudden silence as an invitation, the scientist takes the opportunity to continue.

" **Ten years ago, there were only wild animals living there. But now it's already starting to look like they have a social hierarchy!** " He beams proudly. " **That is the fastest it has ever happened, which prompted me to arrive at the conclusion that the mass and dimension of the Ponelgyph must be proportional to the area that it reigns over...** "

Linus sighs and slaps the constantly talking guy on the arm in order to get his attention. " **You're mumbling again, idiot.** "

Sappho stops short and grins in embarrassment. " **Sorry!** "

" **So.** " Robin clears her throat, being the only one to have understood the main idea of it all. " **You say that because the area on Zunisha's back is small, the Poneglyph's power could** **influence everything to such...** " She pauses, furrowing her eyebrows as she searches for the right word. " **Proportions.** "

Sappho beams, looking like a proud teacher that finally got the kid to understand.

" **Yes, exactly!** "

Linus throws him a questioning look, but decides not to push further into it. He glances at the nearest window and swallows up a curse at the pitch black sky outside.

" **It's getting late so-** "

His smooth escape was unexpectedly aided by Nico Robin herself. And he had thought that she would be willing to stay up all week to find out about everything.

" **Yes, it is enough. For now.** " The archaeologist folds the paper carefully and places it on her lap, hands folded over it. She smiles tightly at them both. " **We will talk later if it is fine.** "

Somewhat disappointed, but knowing to read between the lines Sappho nods, lower lip is jutting out unconsciously.

" **Alright.** "

He turns to stare at Linus, urging him to make a decision. On his part, the official scoffs and stands up.

" **Not today, sorry.** " He tells the blond man before swiveling in place to face the Strawhats." **I will be here to pick you up tomorrow morning.** "

Three pirates nod and the group watches him go in relative silence.

Sappho sighs and rubs the back of his neck. " **I guess we can find an empty room. But it will be a little crowded, I'm afraid.** "

He winces when the orange head glares at him, full on sharp knives and her eye like hell fire pits. But he doesn't change his statement, _cannot_ change it because the facility is not supposed to be used as a place to sleep in, even though sometimes the scientists stay for the night if they get too absorbed in a project. That has been the case for him every day in the past few years, so Sappho can safely say that he has moved here permanently.

Which means one less chance of finding a free room to stuff this big group in. Sometimes Sappho hates Linus' condescending and unhelpful attitude. But then he remembers how adorable he was when he was a little boy and forgets about it not long after.

* * *

"This is not." Nami swallows, her face contorted into one of deep and profound pain. "The best. But we will manage-"

Luffy yells as he bounces from one bunk to the other, rebounding on the floor and walls continuously with the help of his rubber powers. Chopper tries to follow him by transforming into Guard Point, but hits Sanji in the back instead and the cook stumbles and bumps heads with Zoro which transforms into yet another violent argument that Franky tries to diffuse, but fails miserably. And the yells grow and grow in volume and color.

"Or not." The navigator finishes her sentence, watching incredulously as Usopp slides on the floor between Franky's legs in order to get to the other side of the room.

Nami drops on the nearest bunk, eyes still pinned on the disaster in front of her. Now Brook adds fuel to the fire by getting his head stuck in the only window of their room – a small, circular glass that gives away nothing of the outside. She elects to save whatever remains of her sanity and turns her head to the only calm and reasonable person you could talk to in the room at this moment. Robin has been characteristically quiet, though a tense air is hanging above her head and it makes Nami worry.

"Robin-"

Her friend's head lifts, eyes clearing as if exiting a trance and she smiles warmly as her eyes scan the anarchy going on in front of them. Standing up, she claps her hands loudly, creating echoes in the obscenely small room that Sappho has managed to find for them. It is _definitely_ a broom closet and no one can tell Nami otherwise, but at least it has a bathroom. Though the woman doubts that Franky will be able to squeeze in there.

"Let's all calm down, shall we?"

Robin's brown eyes move from one person's face to the other. Or in Brook's case, the back of his afro. Her smile is almost tangible and goes along with her motherly tone.

"We will take turns to the bathroom and draw straws to see who will sleep on the hammocks and who will be the unlucky one to sleep on the floor."

Usopp groans, knowing that he might as well be it with the kind of luck he usually has.

"Now, Chopper is first."

Robin's announcement surprises many.

"Why me?" The reindeer in question asks out of curiosity.

"You are the youngest." Robin replies smoothly, easing herself back down on the only chair in the cramped room. "Kids should be in bed first."

The others accept it pretty easily, but Nami whines internally and braces herself for the long wait.

* * *

"Man, this is really fun!" Luffy shouts loudly, constantly kicking Usopp's hammock in order to swing his own. The captain has been in a continuous bout of energy ever since leaving Sappho's office room slash laboratory.

The sniper throws him a reproving look, but chooses to kick back and swing along himself.

"I swear if you fall on me I will kick both of your asses." Franky grumbles from the floor, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. The shipwright has been the unlucky one to receive the spot because he cannot fit in any of the bunks and drew the short piece of paper for the hammocks. The thick blanket was fine, but it didn't mean that it was in any way comfortable.

"Ugh, these beds are made to fit someone like Chopper not us!" Nami complains, trying to turn on her other side in the bottom bunk, but failing miserably. "I'll be claustrophobic until morning!"

For the first time, Usopp reverently thanks his shitty luck for the miracle that is him sleeping in a hammock. It was about time his luck redeemed itself.

"I'm comfortable really..." Even Chopper's tone was pouting.

"Only you, trust me." Sanji growls from above him. "Goddamn _marimo_ , you're a fat ass idiot!"

Nami's temple pulses when a resounding bang made by metal follows the cook's curses.

"Shut up! I'm trying to sleep, cook bastard." Zoro yawns noisily and manages to bang his head on the ceiling. "Damn it, this is your fault!"

"And you goddamn deserve it, shithead!" Sanji replies instantly, stifling his laughter.

"Fuck off-"

"Shut up or I'll make you!" Nami has had quite enough of them for today. Or more accurately, she has had quite enough of everything today.

"Even though I'm in the top bunk, I do not feel any better than you do, Nami-san." Brook adds to the list of complaints. "My legs are dangling over the top and I'm sure that I will not feel them in the morning. Oh, even though I don't have anything to feel them with. Yohoho, skull joke!"

"... It doesn't work, Brook." Usopp says after a deliberately heavy silence.

Nami's murderous aura pointedly pulsates in the dark.

"Come now, this isn't so bad." Robin stifles a giggle at the surely dark look the navigator must be throwing her from the bunk beneath. "If you cannot sleep, then maybe I can tell you a few things that I have figured out from our talk today."

"Story time!" Luffy exclaims randomly and throws his hands in the air, even though no one can see him.

"I'd like to sleep, but some damn idiot just doesn't let me!" Zoro grunts, but is willing enough to listen for the moment. Maybe he will be able to fall asleep if Sanji is distracted enough.

"I could fucking care less!" The cook shoots back before turning to coo at Robin's beauty and charm – two things completely unrelated to anything they are supposed to be talking about.

"Robin- _chwan_ , we are so close together! Let's hold hands!"

The archaeologist stifles another giggle. "I'm afraid it will be quite dangerous to hold hands like this since Brook or Zoro could fall off and break them along with their fall."

Usopp yelps at the matter-of-fact tone while Sanji positively growls like a beast.

"These two idiots wouldn't dare!"

"I would if you won't shut the fuck up!" The green haired swordsman swings his hand and hits the blond in the head.

"Why you-!"

Seeing as no one is protesting to her proposal, Robin takes it as a confirmation to break the ongoing fight.

"If I had any doubt that this is Raftel, now it's confirmed. We really are here, more than nine hundred years into the past."

The silence is no less surprising than Luffy's complaints about this not being a story at all that he is saying under his breath.

"The slab of rock the Road Poneglyphs are made from is the Rio Poneglyph for sure. And it seems like it is more special than I had anticipated."

"Yeah, I mean giving powers to people? Making animals transform into humans? It's like..." Franky trails off, staring into the dark space ahead.

"A god." Robin finishes.

Nami exhales shakily, a hand already rubbing her forehead.

"And the weapons?" Sanji decides to bring the subject into discussion.

"We know that Pluton was constructed in Water Seven, but if they named an island after it I think they might have hid it there." The archeologist suggests.

"So we know about the 'glyphs and the weapons, but there's still the Devil Fruits and Luffy." Zoro manages to turn on his stomach without falling off and that he considers the ultimate victory.

"Eh? What's up with me?"

"And the fishmen." Chopper adds. "How did they end up at the bottom of the ocean if they are living here?"

"Probably whatever happened during the Void Century made them descend to Fishman Island." Usopp suggests.

"And apparently Sappho is in the process of inventing Devil Fruits." Brook says. "So it will be best to talk with him later about this."

"And I believe that Luffy's involvement in this matter comes down to a simple theory, if we look at the whole picture." Robin tackles the most sensitive point of their conversation. "If Luffy had the necklace, then Sappho must have given it to him or he found it somewhere and then came back to the past to send us here. And from then on this happens again and again."

"Like a full circle?" Chopper quips in.

"Yes, exactly like a full circle." The historian agrees. "It's something that happens again and again without a certain point of where it begins or ends. It's called a Causal Loop. And we are right in the middle of it."

* * *

 **A/N: Kind of a small chapter, but there is a lot of information floating around so I decided that it's better to end it here.**

 **Hope you enjoy it anyway!**

 **Don't forget to R &R!**


	5. Chapter 5

" **And what's wrong with you now?** " Linus has to take only one long look at them this morning to realize that something bad has happened and it is only going to descend into more shit later on in the day if his gut feeling is anything to be relied on.

He casts one inquiring look at Sappho, but the man shakes his head vigorously, declining with all his might any fault or involvement in these idiots' new and sudden bout of depression. Which is all the more alarming now that he thinks about it.

"If this has already happened did I feel like this too? Like, _again_?"

Long nose is close to rocking back and forth on his feet judging by his unfocussed eyes. He notices Linus' stare and takes a step closer, clamping his offending hands on Linus' shoulders.

"Did you already say this before or will you say it again?!"

The native squirms under the wild stare filled with madness, but it proves to be an iron cage so he opts to just glare at the next probable culprit.

" **What is he saying, Robin? And what did you do to break your crewmates?** "

The woman has the nerve to blink and look amused of all things.

" **Just a theory.** "

The official's eye twitches at the storm of gibberish the sniper is pulling. And now he is the one being rocked!

" **What the hell is he even saying?!** "

" **He is asking if you think it's possible to know the end of your own life and what are we doing today.** " The archaeologist informs him leisurely and Linus pauses.

" **Those are completely unrelated!** " With an almighty push, he manages to shove off the offending guy and huffs. Straightening his clothes, Linus clicks his tongue disapprovingly. They look like shit. And so he tells them.

" **Well we sorry if we look this! Possible because someone had us sleep in a small box all last night!** " Nami cries out indignantly, hands on her hips and expression stormier than the Grand Line itself.

 _Well damn it, she's become better at speaking_ , Linus thinks as he grudgingly cuts her off the list of possible victims of his curses.

Biting the inside of his cheek like a real mature person, Linus crosses his arms and turns his back on them.

" **I suppose you will be grateful to leave here then.** "

He knows where they are supposed to be going, but that doesn't make it any easier to navigate through the palace grounds while once again hoping against hope that they will not be seen and any other curious idiot will stay out of his way. He knows just the right place in the north-west wing of the palace grounds, right next to the outer wall overlooking the ocean. That small corner where the sea meets the island's shore and is towered over by the watchtower and the palace itself. Where most windows don't reach and where guards usually come to laze around. A place no one will ask him too many questions about being in. Because during this unsettling night, Linus has quickly reached the conclusion that introducing the Strawhats to at least _some_ people he knows will be inevitable and a pain in the ass if he won't do it willingly.

Why? Well, he now – somehow, at least a _little_ – believes that this obscure group really is here from so many years into the future and possesses knowledge of strange and new technologies that they do not. It will be stupid not to keep them at an arm's length and learn everything he can under the pretext that he is responsible for them. He wants to know more about the Devil Fruits as a whole, but especially about the captain's because those are _his_ powers that he has swallowed and Linus has to make sure that the guy knows how to use them right.

They are way too quiet, he notices after a good while when the enjoyable silence leaves in its wake only a strange and awkward feeling crawling up and down his spine and it is starting to irritate the hell out of him. He opens his mouth more out of spite, but at the sullen looks behind him – minus the captain's, which is not _that_ surprising considering that the kid is pretty much a clueless ball of gum – he decides against it for the moment. It doesn't matter anyway, because their destination is in sight and deserted as is expected.

"So... **meat?** " Luffy tries for the nth time that morning at breakfast when he was presented only a normal portion of a plate composed of fruits. So he has now decided to appeal to his ancestor because he can.

Linus frowns at the nonsense question. " **What meat? We have no meat here.** "

Luffy's head tilts to the side out of reflex as the straw hat wearer processes the foreign words accompanying the relatively only one he knew by heart.

"No? Here?"

" **No is** no. And yes, not here Luffy. There's no **meat** here." Robin's kind smile for her captain looks too encouraging to Linus to be completely innocent, but what the hell.

"N... No?" The man tries and it doesn't come out as horrible as he had thought it would.

Most of the pirates nod supportively at his attempt.

"For your first word it was pretty good, bro!" Franky grins and offers him an appreciative thumbs' up.

The native shakes his head at their needless excitement and fixates a serious stare on Luffy's sunken face which he promptly decides to overlook.

" **We fight. Now.** "

And without any further ado, Linus launches a swift rubber attack that is promptly counterattacked by a 'Gum Gum Pistol'. Luffy looks taken aback by the sudden strike, but he isn't one to refuse a fight. This is finally a language that he can work with.

Linus decides on a swipe with his foot next, but the straw hat wearer only jumps up and launches a massive series of punches that the other avoids by rolling across the ground.

Jumping back to his feet, Linus decides to close the distance and trap the kid but the other is fast enough to reciprocate and doesn't fall for it, much to Linus' surprise. The kid seems pretty stupid at first sight, but fights must be an exception. Or so it seems. Not only that, but fighting rubber with rubber is a pretty stupid idea to begin with.

The Strawhats watch the exchange of blows with interest, finding it a pretty amusing twist of fate to see their captain fighting with somebody using the same kind of powers as him. It isn't like watching a mirror – it is more like looking at different kinds of levels of the Gum Gum Fruit. Until now Linus hasn't shown many impressive or amazing moves, but he can keep up with Luffy and not get tired out and this is saying many things. Rather, the native uses more rudimental attacks that are not even as closely creative as Luffy's are. In contrast, they have probably been developed throughout years of fighting with them. Linus isn't shouting attack names for starters, and he seems more concentrated on studying the younger's moves than knocking Luffy down.

Linus itches to take out his sword, but he supposes it will be kind of unfair to the kid so in the end abstains to do that. But the fight is becoming dull and the kid has some admittedly flashy moves that he can't see the purpose of in a fight where you have to conquer an entire island in under one hour. Of course, they can cause mass destruction perfectly, but that is the least one would aim for when invading towns full of would-be citizens. It looks to him like Luffy is used to destroying rather than keeping things intact and that is a shocking opposite to his own style. It makes him yield to finish the fight and put the kid in his place.

Concentrating on the trajectory the Luffy's fist is going in, Linus crouches down to avoid it and slams his hands on the ground. He hears Luffy's surprised yelp and he uses the momentum to launch himself in the air, reaching for his sword while keeping his eyes trained on the confused kid. He doesn't let him get away with jumping out of the range of his attack. Linus lands hard, makes the ground swell under Luffy and launches him into the sky, though he doesn't get very far when a rubber contraption ties around his middle and pulls him down towards the cold, now hard, ground.

The crew watches with mouths agape as their captain gets plastered on the ground quite literally and in what could only be a twisted turn of events. Even by their standards.

"Are you alright, Luffy?!" Chopper is the first to snap out of his daze, his doctor side taking over instantly. The small reindeer runs quickly towards the raven haired teen, officially ending the fight.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Luffy is surprisingly laughing while nursing a bump on his head.

Linus towers above him like an immovable statue, his face caught somewhere between undecided doubt and disgruntled curiosity.

"What was _that_?!" Nami looks from one Monkey to the other for answers, but her question is brushed off by one and blocked by language barriers by the other.

" **What the hell was that?** " Linus scoffs as he pulls his rubber sword from around the kid's middle.

Franky and Zoro watch it reform into a normal looking one with solid interest.

" **You – it –** _ **rubber**_ **?** " Usopp cracks the coconut open first, because no one else seems to be up on doing that.

Linus throws him an odd look that suggests he should have known about it by now.

" **Of course. The ground, too. Don't tell me you don't know anything about your captain's powers!** "

Everyone looks at Luffy. The raven head blinks and grins back at them.

" **Luffy not can do that!** " Usopp cries out quickly in a broken language.

Linus takes in their honest expressions of raw confusion and resists the urge to slap his forehead.

" **Then what** _ **can**_ **he do?** "

" **Be rubber. That it.** " Sanji flicks his cigarette absently.

Undeterred by the answer, Linus crouches down in front of the kid and repeatedly slammed his hands on the ground. Luffy watches him with an odd expression on his face, but keeps his mouth shut because he does not want to make Linus mad. The pirate captain leans back when the other's head snaps up to glare at him.

" **Now you. Think of rubber!** "

"Think of rubber, shithead. And do the shit he does." Sanji clears up the message for his captain.

Luffy bites the inside of his cheek in concentration and does as he is told, but nothing out of the ordinary happens besides him looking very funny to his crewmates.

"That was on another level than usual!" Nami breathes out after a good laugh.

"Yohoho! Luffy-san was so serious for a moment there!"

Luffy throws his ancestor a betrayed look which the man only shrugs off, too immersed in the fact that the idiot can't do what feels like second nature to him.

" **Why?** "

" **Luffy is only made of rubber. He cannot make other things that.** " Robin explains.

Linus' eyes widen. " **Then he can't become normal either?** "

The archeologist's eyebrows draw up at the question, but she shakes her head negative. Linus deflates and lifts his arm.

Robin takes the offered hand with only a second's hesitation and probes it to confirm what Linus is insisting about.

"He feels normal. No rubber."

The Strawhats pale.

"Wow, how did you do that?! Can I do it? C'mon old man, show me!" Luffy's face is beaming in excitement, but Linus shakes his head.

" **Can you clone yourself,** Robin?"

Robin nods. " **Only one or two. I tire out easily if I do more.** "

Linus exhales through his nose. " **Then it's the same with you, too. Sappho has hundreds of these.** "

Usopp chokes on his spit. "Wha-!"

" **How do you think he discovered all these things?** " The native ruffles his hair in frustration. " **That idiot made the Fruits imperfect!** "

"He said that he made the Fruits imperfect." Nami tells Franky.

The shipwright rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Or maybe **Sappho** had to make them this way."

Robin relays the message to Linus, who looks a little more pacified at the suggestion but nevertheless thunderous.

" **What other Devil Fruits do you have?** " The official asks, shifting from foot to foot as he opts to change the subject before he can make up his mind and really kill the blond.

" **I! Human Fruit!** " Chopper announces, lifting a hoof.

" **Then... he was a raccoon?** " Linus blurts out, studying the doctor much more closely now.

The small pirate does not need to understand everything to know what the man has just assumed and he promptly cries out in protest.

"I'm a reindeer!"

Linus blinks at the furious face, but thinks better of it.

" **So I suppose the skeleton and the blue haired guy have Fruits, too?** "

" **No, me has none!** " Franky grins, pointing a thumb at his chest proudly.

The native looks up at the musician. " **So you have some kind of animation Fruit then?** "

"Oh, **no! I am quite dead.** " Brook announces jovially.

Linus pauses to process this information and he turns to Robin, who seems to have become his designated helper.

" **What was his name again?** "

"Brook. **He ate the Revive Revive Fruit.** "

The raven haired man chokes. " **What kind of name is** _ **that**_ **?!** " It takes him a minute to realize what he has just shouted out and he clears his throat in embarrassment. "Brook, **why are you a skeleton then?** "

" **I was lost... and came back... late?** " Brook tries to simplify matters as best as he can for everyone's benefit.

" **And when he came back, his body was already a skeleton. That is the reason for his image.** " Robin adds mildly.

" **I... see.** " Linus isn't sure if he really can, but this is indeed the most logical way of how things went. " **You have one of the Fruits Sappho was talking about.** "

" **Live forever Fruits?** " Nami asks curiously, surprised to get a sharp nod in return. "But... Brook can die, right?"

The navigator turns her head in the skeleton's direction, looking for confirmation or a denial. Anything.

The musician nods slowly, his empty eye sockets seeming to narrow marginally.

"I can indeed die if my bones are turned to dust. I will simply have no body to return to."

"Brook **says that he can die. If his body turns to dust.** " Robin translates for Linus.

The raven haired man shoots Brook a critical look.

" **I suppose this 'Revive Revive Fruit',** " the raven haired man makes air quotations with his fingers, " **is imperfect as well. Here, the man born with it has been living for a thousand years already.** "

Usopp gasps audibly at the information while Robin occupies herself with listing all the other Fruits they know and categorizing them for later use. Nami slaps her hands over both Sanji and Luffy's mouths to stop them from talking and shouting questions, trying in vain to translate what Linus has just said.

Seeing no problem with their curiosity, Linus continues. " **He was born one hundred years after the first powers appeared on the island and he-** "

"So he's not some kind of living legend that's been here for... ever." Zoro tries to whisper to Franky a little more conspicuously, but it goes heard by the storyteller anyway and he is rewarded with an expectedly dirty look.

" **He has been living for more than a thousand years, returning to his body whenever he dies. After a while it has become too deteriorated to be lived into so he started changing bodies, negotiating with their former owners over them. That's how he's been getting by until now.** "

"Immortality, huh?" Brook hums thoughtfully, though if he is going to be honest this whole story does not sit quite right with him. It sounds like a very long and lonely journey. And he thought that fifty years was a long time.

" **This does sound a little wrong, but I suppose this is just the way things are.** " Robin's smile is devoid of any amusement as she sits down on the grass. " **Does he negotiate with the owners before they die?** "

Linus scratches his head, this subject a little out of his area of expertise, but mind fueled by the rumors and his own experience with the man.

" **Yes. Negotiations are usually very extensive and can last a very long time.** " The native's mouth pulls tight and the hand that is absently rubbing the side of his head falls limply. " **He is an eccentric man. I hear he's haggling for a woman's body next.** "

Sanji discretely files this u nder his 'valuable Devil Fruits that are already eaten' list.

" **Everyone has their preferences, I'm sure.** " Robin tries to see the bright side as Linus doesn't look too positive at this point in the conversation.

The man sitting in front of her snorts and looks Brook in the eyes – or his soul's eyes, to be more specific. " **That man brings his fear of death to the extreme.** "

" **You look to know him well.** " Sanji remarks as he exhales a cloud of smoke. He crouches down and stubs the used cigarette on the ground.

Linus grounds his teeth, but doesn't deny it. " **You can say that. My grandfather is friends with most of the Sages so I inadvertently met all of them when I was young.** "

"What did he say?" Chopper tugs on Usopp's pants, but the sniper shakes his head grimly before his gaze focuses on their historian.

"I didn't get most of it. Did you, Robin?"

The black haired woman closes her eyes and opens them back slowly. "Neither did I. He just used a couple of complicated words I've never heard before. But I believe he has met these **Sages**." She regards Linus with a serene expression that is meant to reassure him no secret plan is involved. " **What are Sages?** "

Linus grins slyly as he works to push Luffy off him. He swears that this kid gets bored _way_ too easily, though he kind of understands where he is coming from.

" **The five people that are said to live forever.** " He explainssmoothly. " **They tried calling them elders, but those five clunked everyone who said that word over the head because – 'they are not old and wouldn't get since they are immortal so stop calling us that, you idiots'.** " Linus quotes, making sure to speak slower and revise any complicated words that might have slipped. " **Clunk is when you hit.** "

"Yohoho, I see!" Brook laughs good-naturedly. "Though it sounds quite like the World Government we have in our time."

"Indeed." Robin's voice is decidedly heavier than before and she stands up with unusual stiffness. "It seems we might have another piece of the puzzle."

"You mean the Government might have copied them?" Nami crosses her arms as she looks over at the waves hitting the crumbling cliffs a few meters away.

"He said they were five, right?" Franky inquires and guffaws when he gets an affirmative answer. "I knew those idiots were just posers!"

"I kinda' doubt they're just that, Franky!" Usopp exclaims, looking around in fear, though it is obvious no shady old man from their time is there. Even so, after Enies Lobby, discussing about the World Government _at any time_ isnot making him any more comfortable.

Luffy's head snaps up when it seems that the discussion is set to some familiar tunes and he leaves his ancestor to his own devices as he saunters over to his friends' side.

"What's up?"

"It is entirely possible that they've gotten the idea of how to install and conduct an effective government from Raftel's example." Robin begins, her brown eyes wide and fixed steadily on the ground. "But there is always the possibility that one of them is a traitor and changed camps."

"Or will." Zoro adds, casting a furtive glance in the palace's direction.

"We shouldn't throw stones at anyone right now." Brook intervenes calmly. "First we have to figure out what kind of powers the rest of these people have. And associate them with the ones from our time."

"Brook-bro's right. No use pointing our fingers if we don't know in which direction." The crew's shipwright shrugs and the finality in his tone suggests they should drop the subject for now.

"What are you guys talking about?" Luffy's face is contorted into a truly painful kind of confusion that Usopp physically feels.

"Politics mostly. Linus said something and we started talking about the World Government." The sniper grimaces at the escalading groan that comes from his captain before he even finishes the sentence.

"Why can't you guys talk about something _interesting_!" The straw hat wearer slumps to the ground, defeated.

Chopper is next to him in an instant, fussing over whatever unseen injury the fight earlier might have caused him to fall to the ground for.

Nami pursed her lips at the pitiful show.

"Someone's coming." Zoro's urgent whisper and Sanji's suddenly lifted foot disrupts the easygoing haze they have been wrapped in.

Luffy's protests die as soon as the swordsman utters the first word and he looks up, gaze sharp and focused on locating the intruder.

Linus looks at their sudden agitation with raised eyebrows, not understanding one _shitty fucking thing_ they are saying, but trying hard to make the connections. It does not go very well.

" **So many people here! Is this a party without me you're throwing,** _ **Linus**_ **?** "

The voice comes from behind and Linus' eyes widen quizzically while his heart stops for a split of a second. When his brain finishes making the connections and printing the results, he stares at the Strawhats' hanging jaws – again with the jaws, these people are much too easily caught off guard – and they seem to struggle between staring at him and at the newcomer.

Taking a deep breath because he feels that this is what he really needs right now, Linus turns around and bites back the waterfall of insults threatening to burst out of his mouth. Instead he opts to stare at the man crouched on top of the wall, standing against the morning sun and thus having his face partly obscured by the light. Which Linus is sure that is meant to make his entrance more ambiguous and mysterious, but in his eyes the guy is only ever pushing his luck. And this is the last damn time – he'll make sure of it.

" **What the smothering hell are you doing here?** " The raven head growls lowly, ignoring the whimpering and urgent whispers erupting from behind him.

The man on top of the concrete grins smugly and jabs a thumb at his chest. " **Come now, is that the way to greet me?** " The whine in his tone is almost amusing if the sight of his face wouldn't be too irritating to look at.

The intruder drops down from his perch and lands on the ground with a dull thud. Somehow, his closeness makes the Strawhats take a collective step back. Linus bites his tongue and decidedly doesn't ask why their captain looks positively horrified at the moron he is just about to pummel.

" **Well?!** " Linus insists when all the idiot does is stand there like a restless child that just wants to intrude on something, but ends up being rightfully ignored. His jet black gaze studies the partially undressed man with as much criticism as he can materialize before he gets distracted. By the thing that most probably got the idiot so hyped up to search for and bother him.

" **What is that shit on you!** "

The Strawhats jump and Linus hopes that his roar goes unheard inside the castle.

The black haired man in front of him grins smugly and puffs out his chest which is partially covered in blue, purple and gold ink. " **You like it? It's a phoenix, y'know?** "

The simple question sparks a wave of anger in Linus and he clenches his fists, trying to calm down before he speaks.

" **You got a tattoo on your** _ **wedding**_ **day?!** " Screw calm, he still manages to explode like a volcano.

" **A tribal style tattoo like they do on Shando-** "

" **You have to be ready in-** " Linus stops and turns to glare at the sun for short a moment before resuming his rant, " **two damn hours!** "

"Did he just read the hour by the sun?" Usopp whispers to the closest person next to him.

Nami shoots him one of her usual looks that spells 'you're disrupting this dramatic moment', but shrugs. "I can too. I just need time to study its position to determine the exact hour."

"Yeah, but he did it in a second!" The sniper insists.

" **What's got you so fired up today?** " The taller native asks curiously, his eyes meandering towards the Strawhats. He seems to be too preoccupied with studying them to see the incoming rubber fist that hits him in the face a second later.

" **You should have been preparing!** " Linus draws back now that his anger has been well consumed in the screaming fest and places his hand over his face, silently wondering why on earth all shit is falling on him to deal with nowadays. " **Why did you get a tattoo for anyways? Kallisto not interested enough?** "

The other's face darkens a visible shade and he looks about ready to start stabbing Linus, but instead of that his shoulders slump and he _sniffs_.

" **I thought it'd be romantic, y'know? Kalli said so...** " He trails off and beams up again, like a light bulb switched back on. " **Who're these guys?** "

Linus rolls his eyes at the roundabout answer, but he is not at all surprised. Only concerned for the future of this kingdom. It won't be surprising if he'll end up being the one running all the shit in a couple of years, but for now the Monkey clansman remains hopeful. Maybe they'll find another idiot for the job. Going back to the present, he supposes that introductions are due but the faces of some of the time travelers make him rethink his decision. Their captain's pale and shaking form speaks volumes. But the intruding idiot is getting impatient and the kid opens his mouth right then so he doesn't have a choice in the end.

" **These are my charges at the moment, the Strawhat pirates.** " He gestures to the group at large, recounting some of the names, but finding out that he has lost many of them from his memory. "Robin, Brook, sniper-"

" **I am** Usopp!" The long nosed man interrupts with a _harrumph_.

"Nami, **right?** "

The navigator sighs and nods. She knows that this is the extent of knowledge Linus possesses about their names at the moment, so she decides to take the lead and presents in turn the rest of her crewmates.

"Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Franky-"

" **And that's their captain,** Luffy **.** " Linus finishes, throwing the slowly reddening kid a warning glare to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, Luffy has been close to erupting for a while now and the sound of his name does not help him or his nerves.

Linus' companion makes a noncommittal noise as he returns the Strawahats' greetings.

" **What's wrong with 'im?** **No matter, I guess. Nice to meet you too,** Luffy **!** "

Luffy startles, his eyes wide and muscles stiff. He stares at the man with a specific kind of horror Nami associates with Thriller Bark or – in general – with seeing a ghost. Which is most certainly so in this situation. They've all been taken aback, but most rational thinkers that do not include their captain for obvious reasons, have soon realized that it isn't and couldn't be _that_ person. Hell, everyone excluding Luffy has had enough time to make peace with that thought, but unfortunately their captain has a one-track mind that only blares through the alarms of one thing inside his head at a time. And this won't make Linus happy, goddamn it.

Face looking as if he has just discovered the One Piece, Luffy jumps to his feet and lifts his foot, intent to close the distance and catch the poor, innocent man in the most dangerous bear hug of all – his trademark, rubber one.

"Ace is that really you?! What are you doing here? Did the guy sent you here, too?! You really know how to speak this language!" Luffy's shouts are incessant as he struggles in Sanji and Zoro's twin holds on his arms and against Franky's massive fist clenched around his body.

"Luffy calm down, he's not Ace!" Nami tries, but her voice is too weak against that resolve swimming in his wet gaze.

Linus looks at Luffy and resists the urge to slam his head on a rock repeatedly. Next to him, the newcomer chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his head while he watches the spectacle in wonder.

" **I see that I've got a fan.** "

The official is not so sure about that. Not in the mood to hear the reason, though still curious as hell why the kid has suddenly lost his mind, he turns towards Robin's serene figure at the edge of the stormy group and asks when he is sure that her attention is on him.

" **What is he screaming about now? Again with one of your ghosts?** "

The archaeologist smiles in bemusement at their predicament.

" **Indeed. I am sorry, but our captain is very emotional about this. Can you clear this maybe?** "

She hums and Linus could have said no, but now he is compelled to even if he _has_ _been_ compelled from the start anyways because he has to introduce the tattooed man standing next to him. But this doesn't mean he likes it either way. Bracing himself for whatever the hell will come next from this unpredictable group, he gestures toward said man.

" **This is Amon, prince of this kingdom.** "

Silence reigns as Robin finishes relaying to her captain the translation of his words. Of course, this spurs an argument between the blond and green haired pirates and the rest have to enter the fray because why not. And when their captain finally snaps out of whatever trance or deep thoughts he has been in and actually begins to listen to what Brook and Nami are telling him, his face drops heartbreakingly as he studies Amon with the biggest amount of disappointment and sadness Linus has ever seen in someone. And then Luffy starts rambling about this or the other in that broken language of theirs, rapid firing everything he is still confused about and probably complaining over the situation. Because everyone they have met looked like those ghosts of theirs and he pouts and dries his last tears until, finally, he stops. All of them stop. And Linus will never know how close he has been in his assumptions.

" **And Linus' best friend!** " Amon adds happily in spite of the slightly awkward atmosphere, slinging an arm around the other's shoulders which is promptly shrugged off.

Linus rewards the guy with a good old glare and pursed lips.

" _No_ , **he's not. Just an irritating guy who needs to be constantly babysat.** " The official spits and promptly ignores the string of complains falling from the prince's mouth. He addresses the Strawhats. " **His wedding is today, so I need to get him inside the palace. Stay here and don't move. Alright?** "

He sighs in relief at Robin's compliant nod and she makes sure that her friends get the message as well. Linus won't be caught saying it out loud, but the black haired woman has become quite an indispensable link between the two languages in this short time. She shoulders half of his workload and he's very grateful for that. It is safe to say that he has been completely lost when he heard that his job is to keep them safe. He hadn't known how to even communicate with them and suddenly Sappho and the other competent folk decide that he has to _make friends_ with the so-called pirates. It took him all night to accept this new reality and make peace with the fact that he'll have to teach them their language or possibly have him learn the continentals'. Which he is trying to, but it proves too difficult to just be fine with catching words as they fly around. So he makes up a plan that will hopefully not end with this whole place destroyed.

Ruffling his hair again, Linus turns around and makes to grab Amon's arm but instead of a solid limb, his hand passes through it. The gaping hole around his hand remains small for a moment, shy tendrils of fire licking his rubber skin without any intent of burning it before the gap gradually extends and swallows the raven haired man's whole body, leaving only a red bead behind that promptly falls to the ground.

Linus watches it drop with a blank range of what-to-do-next. Behind him, the pirates look on with grim faces, most of them being aware that such a possibility is thoroughly possible. Luffy bites his lower lip in an effort to not run out there and hug the man who so resembles his older brother both in appearance and in powers. Hell, he'll go as far as to say that their personalities are almost alike.

The older Monkey clansman member rolls his eyes at the constant chuckling coming from seemingly all around before Amon reappears in a small storm of fire a couple of meters behind him.

" **Why do you have to be so stubborn?** " Linus groans at the cheeky smirk on the guy's face. Seriously now, he is not helping his situation at all.

Turning on his heels, he marches off determined not to lose Amon again and when he is certain that the fire user is secured in his iron grip he drags him toward the towering building. He opts to ignore the incessant mumbles and complaints thrown his way like a professional.

Nami shakes her head at the sight, not sure what she can say in this situation.

"Luffy, I need to make sure things are clear in your head for now." Robin's voice echoes around the clearing an instant later and seven people turn to gaze at their captain's form, slouched on the ground in apparent defeat. The historian smiles indulgently and is willing to comply with any of his questions.

Luffy lets out a breath that sounds close to a snort and closes his eyes as if willing all the complicated things far away from him. A few moments of uncharacteristic silence later, he nods his head and opens his eyes to give Robin his full attention. But he speaks before she can.

"I know that's not _Ace_ …" His voice breaks on his brother's name. "But he looks so much like him!"

"I know." Robin agrees mildly, sitting down next to him. "As hard as it sure is, you must always remember that none of the people we meet here are in any way people from our time."

Her words ring loud and clear, obviously addressed to all of them.

"They may be distant relatives, direct lines of ancestors and who knows what else. But they are not one and the same." Twinkling brown eyes regard melancholic jet black kindly. "I know it brings back bad memories and it hurts to see them so close when they are not. It is a century too early for any of them."

"So we have to keep calm no matter what we see." Zoro concludes, cutting Robin's speech short.

"This might be just what they need to mark us as spies. Let's not give them that chance, Luffy-san." Brook accompanies his input with a small laugh that is meant to lighten up the atmosphere.

Luffy looks to be thinking it over for a minute before a smile blossoms on his face and he chuckles.

"Yeah, you guys are right!"

With a small push he lifts himself off the ground. Once back on his feet, the rubber man studies their expectant faces and grins.

"I'll keep my guard up from now on!"

Sanji snorts at the out of context promise, but Nami supposes this is as good as they will ever get and that has to count for something. She resigns herself to wait in the relative silence they have going on. She ignores the louder ones of their crew in favor of giving her rumbling thoughts a semblance of order. Sounds of the game of tag fills in the bouts of silence and prevents the general mood from descending into depressive again. Luffy and Chopper are certainly not undeterred by being told to wait and do nothing.

Linus returns fifteen minutes later when the game is reaching its climax and Robin clearly is going to win. The black haired man looks as if the whole world has just dumped a heavy boulder on him to carry up a mountain in the middle of winter, but at least his gaze is still burning with determination.

" **You will eat lunch at the Monkey family manor today.** " Linus clears his throat. " **Where you will also be staying from now on, by the way.** " The native blinks at the collective cheer Nami, Franky and Sanji give while the rest of the crew looks like their birthdays are coming. Swallowing back his curiosity, Linus continues. " **But first, I have a few things to say to you.** "

He pauses to make sure that Robin is listening.

" **From now on you can walk through the city without problems. But** _ **please**_ **do not do anything to attract attention to yourselves!** " He stops and glares at Luffy in particular. **"You can visit Sappho whenever you want, but I'd suggest you do not go out there just because you are bored. There are also a few rules of the manor, but I will be relaying them as we walk.** "

Robin nods and immediately starts translating for her friends. Linus occupies himself with studying the sparkling waters of the Grand Blue as their undulating waves splash against the rocky shoreline. He wonders if he made the right choice in the end, but seeing his charges' considerably happier faces than before, he supposes that he is on the right track at least.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for not posting yesterday. It was a crazy exam day.**

 **I will also take the time to say that I have posted a whole full chapter with no scene break and damn, this is a new record for me.**

 **Don't forget to R &R!**


	6. Chapter 6

" **First!** " Linus declares as he guides the substantial group through the large streets of the capital. "No **shouting, running and bulldozing through my house.** "

"Don't shout, run or…" Robin trails off as she realizes the last word is completely foreign. " **Can you repeat the last word?** "

Linus takes a moment to consider the synonyms. " **Destroy. Break.** "

The archaeologist nods in thanks.

" **Second!** No **speaking with my family if you are not asked anything directly.** "

"We cannot speak with anyone from his family unless they address us first."

" **If you need anything, ask the servants.** "

"He said something that should we need any help to ask someone so I guess he must have meant servants. Usopp, please not this."

" **Guarded rooms are a big** _no_ **!** "

"We cannot enter the guarded rooms."

" **Third! If you hear a large, noisy** _ **laugh**_ **from** _ **anywhere**_ **run back to your room. Get it?** "

"And if we hear someone laughing like a maniac we run to our room." Robin finishes with a deep inhale.

"I hope he hadn't meant 'our room' literally." Nami mumbles to herself sadly, lost in the hope that she won't have to share with this loud group of men again.

"Who the hell laughs like a maniac anyway?" Franky scratches his head as he tries to figure out this recent mystery.

"So this means that we can walk around, at least." Sanji says, playing with the butt of his cigarette.

"Then we can take food from the frid-" Luffy begins, his eyes wide and full of hope that seem to be able to shine even through the darkest of times at the newest revelation that must have his world quickly transform into a paradise of bliss.

As if sensing the meaning of the captain's words, Linus cuts the kid off as he adds the last bit of the rules he has just made up for them. He won't risk anything with these guys.

" **And** _no_ **stealing! From anywhere. Especially the kitchens!** "

The captain's face promptly drops as his heart breaks into a million pieces.

The native eyes the gradually mood drop in the group's faces, but he can care less. He is doing everything he can to keep the very likely possibility of a civil war happening between his own family to a minimum because that is the last thing they need right now.

" **Here we are.** " Linus says as he stops outside two large gates enclosed in an arcade of marble. They open with barely a creak and he steps over the threshold. The way opens in the central gardens, dotted with exotic trees the pirates have seen on several summer islands along their journey through the Grand Line.

The fields of green seem to expand endlessly before their eyes but after no more than five minute of walking, the tiled roof of a house pops up from between the cracks of the trees' crowns. And along with it a whole valley filled with twin homes that are seemingly built on top of one another neatly along the rising wall of the next hill. The compound resembles a castle on the cringe-worthy rich scale, though it somehow reminds Robin of the revolutionaries' base of operations with its sheer vastness and setting. It can't have been easy climbing back and forth through different parts and back up toward the city. She also can't understand why this clan would isolate themselves in a valley that seems to be so easy for any enemy to attack. They are literally stuck in a pit. But then again, Draco doesn't look like someone who is relaxing at home unprepared with at least five strategies for anything much less a trivial invasion of their home.

Several branching alleys guide them on a succinct tour of the small settlement, along the well-groomed terraces and private gardens with metal fences. The gravel crunches under their feet as the buildings grow larger and more luxurious the further they approach the biggest rooftop that easily towers near the very top of the hill.

" **Your quarters –** _ **rooms**_ **will be near mine so that I can keep an eye on you.** "

"He just said rooms… as in plural, didn't he?" Nami exhales gradually, her whole posture loosening with the promise of a boy-free room.

" **And whatever you do – do not go anywhere near this part of the compound.** "

Linus gestures to the red bricked, marble dotted house that seems somehow smaller than the rest and with particularly noticeably different architecture choices. It definitely hasn't been built in the same time span as the rest and Robin can actually imagine that it must be from an altogether another time.

Raucous laughter suddenly interrupts their relative tranquility. Linus pulls a face so full of horror and pain that Robin seriously thinks that something is wrong with him for a moment. The archaeologist bites back a giggle at the fact that she's almost been fooled by this.

Her gaze drifts to her captain who is standing in place and staring at the open doorway with a mixture of curiosity and shock. The rest of the Strawhats crowd behind their host in the doorway, peering curiously over his shoulder at what they will later describe as the ultimately mind-scarring, life-jarring sight.

Fortunately, they can only gape in surprise in these tense ten seconds as they dangle between watching the old man lounging on a chair that looks more like a low throne seat in the middle of a too-large room for this kind of house as he finishes his bout of hearty laughter. The man has a strong chin with high cheekbones and he bears an incredible resemblance to Linus – or is it the other way around? His features remain relaxed, but Robin knows that all of them, save probably Luffy and Chopper, have noticed the shift in the general mood along with the wispy layer of steel entering behind his pitch black gaze.

No matter how much he doesn't like his crewmate, Sanji places a hand on Zoro's wrist, stopping him from taking out Sandai Kitetsu and screwing their already shitty situation even more.

"Hey, Robin." Luffy at least has the decency to _try_ and mumble it. "That doesn't look like someone we know?"

The archaeologist merely raises an eyebrow, never taking her eyes off the old man studying them in turn from across the room.

" **Who did you pick up this time?** " The old man asks tonelessly, finger digging through one nostril in a very impolite image of a clan head. " **I thought we had that discussion already. You can't just pick up random strays off the streets!** "

Linus clenches his jaw, but remains otherwise unresponsive.

" **Grandfather. I'd like you to meet the ones everyone in the palace is talking about these days.** "

Linus' grandfather blinks at the scathing undertone, but appears otherwise unsurprised with the information.

" **So these are the strays the government picked up. Ah, I keep telling Ashur to pick up more suitable people for the End Act, but he just keeps coming up with wilder and wilder ideas!** "

The man throws his hands in the air in a sign of exasperation before he resumes a slouching posture. He looks at the pirates with a patronizing smile and Nami raises an eyebrow at him with all the inviting politeness of someone about to beat the other up. Linus waves her off behind his back, gesturing them to simply comply with whatever the crazy old man might be spouting.

"Thieves and criminals have always been good fodder nonetheless. Welcome to the Monkey family estate! Feel free to stay in your rooms and not destroy anything."

The Strawhats draw back as one when the familiar words of their language start rolling off the old man's tongue. He is speaking effortlessly, though with a slightly distinguishable accent.

Linus sighs at the pulsating awe emanating from behind. He now realizes that he should have warned them beforehand. His grandfather has always been one step ahead of their main enemy and so he did not stop to think twice before passing everything on to his descendants. The only reason Linus isn't spouting the Continentals' language too is because he had decided long ago to distance himself from this man and subsequently, from his cousins and family. He never stays long to clan gatherings and birthday parties and he makes sure to avoid any of his crazy, suicidal cousins that like to throw their kids into the forest like their grandfather did to them when they were young.

Some even hold completely crazy ideas of how to have fun. No, Linus knew long ago that he would not let himself be subjected to such shit and quickly made it so. And from then on, his relationship with his clan and mostly his grandfather has been strained at best. Though he can't say that he isn't glad when he is able to say that he does not know them so well when things tend to get destroyed out in the city. It is just one less point lost on his reputation. And if he wants to succeed his dad as the governor or even better, chief of security, he has to make sure that his nut job of a clan doesn't screw it up for him completely. He also likes to think of himself and his father as the only ones still sane around here.

"Now get out of here!" The elder waves a hand dismissively, already bored.

Having been waiting for this opportunity, Linus wastes no time in shooing the rather large group out of the room. He seriously has to think of some other ways to herd this insane and unstable party around, especially in such tight situations.

" **That seriously did not go as I thought it would.** " Usopp whispers they walk down the tapestried hall.

"You tellin' me." Sanji plays with the cigarette between his lips anxiously. " **What is his problem?** "

" **My grandfather is one of a kind.** " Linus confesses, wincing at the flashes of memory assaulting him.

" **I would have thought that he would be more like** Luffy's **own grandfather. But they do not bear too many similarities.** " Robin seems almost sad at this revelation.

 _ **Probably a theory gone to trash.**_

" **Thank God for that.** " Linus whispers despite himself. " **These are your quarters.** "

He announces, stopping in front of a double set of doors.

" **We all stay in here?** " Nami squeaks tentatively.

" **There's enough room for all of you.** " The clansman announces. " **I will be here with your dinner when it's time.** "

Zoro nods and takes the initiative to shove the doors open. He does not waste much time in getting accustomed with the wide space that greets him back. Instead, he throws himself on the first couch he finds and succumbs to a much needed nap.

Linus watches as Usopp and Chopper start investigating the room closely, touching and poking wherever they could. Brook looks equally as intrigued, but remains polite and mannered in his wonderings. He sees Nami breathe a sigh of relief and he is sure that he does not want to know why.

" **Linus.** "

The black haired man looks up at the sound of his name. His gaze locks on a warm brown one and he knows the moment when Robin decides to ask him what she intends to.

" **You grandfather. Is he-** "

" **Going to be a danger to you? Suspicious? Just throw you out on the street for laughs?** " Linus finishes resignedly. The latter might be possible, but he pretty much doubts it since the royals are involved. He shakes his head. " **Only if you give him reason to be. And pretty sure that no.** " His mouth pulls taut, almost disappointed. " **But this is not what you want to ask me, isn't it?** "

Robin avoids his gaze – an unusual sign that she is uncomfortable – and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.

" **I need to get out of here. There are still things I need to learn. And not enough time left.** "

Her voice is no more than a whisper, but Linus understands every undercurrent behind her words. And he knows that even without his agreement, this devilish woman will do her thing anyway. So it isn't as much of a choice as an announcement at this point.

" **As long as nothing is destroyed.** " Linus exhales, defeated.

Robin's smile is truer this time around. But it does little to reassure him.

" **I will let you get on with it then.** "

With what – he doesn't want to know. He's only sure of one thing. That he needs to get out of here, go to his room and brood. And then probably prepare for the wedding. Inside his chest, a hot trail of refusal to honor the royals with his presence dances around, but his consciousness informs him that everyone on the island will be very disappointed. Not to mention that nothing will stop Amon to come get him. It is just one of those irritating things about the guy. Ever since they were young, Linus has tried to ditch the leach so many times, but Amon never gets the message and he surely does not agree with Linus leaving him alone.

He is about to step out of the room when the whole building shakes from its foundation. The pirates behind him yelp, the green haired swordsman's nap is interrupted which proves to be worse than the actual earthquake itself. And dust falls from the ceiling and into his freshly washed hair. Yes, this day can only get worse indeed.

" **What is – this!** " Usopp shouts into the silence when everything settles.

" **Do you have many earthshakes?** " Robin asks, eyebrows drawn, but interested.

" **Quakes.** " Linus corrects automatically. " **Earthquakes. And no. Natural ones are very rare.** **And usually predictable.** " He frowns, never one to like the implications behind this. He silently begins counting the heads in the room, half listening to the orange haired woman that is wondering in a broken excuse of a language what he means about natural ones and whatnot.

Linus freezes when the end result is one short, irritating, probably-related-to-him kid. Who will be the death of him one of these days, he is sure.

" **Where is your captain?** " He knows by how Robin freezes and Chopper and the skeleton yell shrilly that no one saw where he went.

The earth shakes again and Linus is convinced he has the answer this time, but Franky's whistle does not encourage him about their self-preservation instincts as a whole. He has warned them about this specifically, but of course one of the idiots did not deem it important enough to listen. Though he knows that Luffy not understanding even a bit of what is spoken around is very, very bad and dangerous. Like right now.

" **Damn. Follow me!** "

Linus does not wait for any confirmation. He retraces their steps quickly, keeping Sanji and Robin on his peripheral vision. He is partly glad that he was not followed by the whole squad of pirates. It'd have looked pretty funny to the servants if they wouldn't be too busy being horrified by what is transpiring inside the room. There is already quite the crowd gathered in the doorway, blocking Linus' way and the sight of the former traditional room. With a growl, a clear path opens immediately and Linus and Sanji are almost pushed through the opening to something unexpected.

His grandfather is talking animatedly to Luffy who is dangling from his scarf, two feet above the ground though for all the distance and uncomfortable grip, the kid looks absorbed enough by the older man's words that he is not faking it. Not like Linus expected him to be faking anything.

" **Where** **did you get this interesting kid from, again?** "

Linus opens his mouth before shutting it again. And makes sure to keep it so. He does not need anyone spoiling any under the radar plans such as this one seems to be. Sappho went to great lengths to keep it from preying ears since Linus found out he hadn't been told for the same reasons.

" **Linus!** "

Of course the man would not take the silence for an answer. He feels more than sees Sanji shift uncertainly behind and knows that Robin is most likely outside and keeping a literal eye on them from the wall behind his grandfather. He approves her good instincts and sense of danger. Gods knows he needs to work on his more.

" **They are very important to the** _ **kingdom**_ **.** "

Linus hopes the point is made, but his grandfather doesn't seem to get the memo. So he bites the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood. He has never wanted to admit this, has been adamant in shutting up forever even if Amon would order him to say it. But the old man cannot be swayed by simple pleas, he knows that better than anybody.

" **We need them to win the war.** "

That was what Sappho has said. And Linus hopes, oh so hopes, that it is true. Because he knows everybody thinks he does not know, but he knows what he shouldn't know since let's face it – he has practically spend his entire childhood in the Volcano, obviously he knows some shortcuts and secret entrances that allows the scientists to slip in undetected whenever they wanted. And he has seen enough of the dangerous things researched in there that it's easy to find all the respective documents that the royal family does not want anyone seeing. Only a few select people are privy to the information, but since Sappho is dumb enough to be so predictable, there is one more added to that group.

And the situation isn't pink.

Pink's what would have been one hundred years ago when people liked the sea, when they didn't call it a demon and sailors devils. The continentals are too many now. Way too many to be positive that this war will not end with the destruction of everything he holds dear.

His grandfather is eyeing him with that distrustful expression like all those ages ago when he had lied that his ribs weren't bruised from the fall because that would have meant a second one. Because he wasn't strong enough yet.

" **All right then. Means he's free.** " The old man turns to flash Luffy a grin and Linus makes the fatal mistake of taking too long to consider what his words mean.

"He's coming with me."

Linus opens his mouth, but his grandpa is already halfway to the door, Luffy sliding along behind him. A passage is already formed, petals of the rarest flowers scattered and provisions packed for the trip to wherever the hell his grandpa thinks of going now. Linus, unfortunately, does not feel ready for a trip right now.

" **Grandfather, I cannot leave the others-** "

" **You ain't leaving nobody!** " The old man bellows loud enough for the rest of his family to hear. " **He's the only one coming.** Actually, blondie too."

He says and snatches Sanji's collar before the man can protest or at least have a chance at defending himself.

Linus' jaw clenches on reflex and he feels his power flowing hot red through blood vessels and muscles all the way to the top of his skin. And he tries to be brave.

" **I cannot allow you to!** " He almost bites his tongue when the first tremor comes, way more powerful than any he was usually accustomed to. It is a warning – but more than that, it is a promise.

" **You don't have a say in the matter. The King may do what he thinks it's best, but I** _ **know**_ **what is best! And that's what I'm doin'. You can tell him that tonight.** "

Linus watches him go with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

He stays like that for a while, long after the servants cleaned the area and leave. A long way after the sun has set and the second day of craziness has passed. His fists have yet to unclench and his teeth may be glued to each other by now. He knows that he has other matters to attend to, but right now he does not care for anything else than his goddamned failure. If he can't stop his stupid grandfather, then what use is he against a whole army of continentals? But his muscles had locked down when that tremor started shaking debris from the ceiling.

" **It is not your fault.** " Robin tries for sympathetic, but all he hears is an accusation.

" **I didn't try hard enough.** " Linus spits bitterly, but he is past self-loathing. " **There is nothing we can do now.** " He sighs and catches the historian's eye. And he makes up his mind. " **I need to get to that wedding. You should come with me.** "

Her eyes widen comically, but time is of the essence so Linus makes this short. " **There are people you need to meet and things to discuss. Maybe we can work on something with Sappho. So you can have a say in what happens in the Volcano.** "

He thinks his words are too rushed, too difficult to understand, but Robin surprises him with a smile and a grateful nod. Grateful for what, he does not know. She should not be grateful to him for putting her in the first line of the worst kind of fire – the indirect one. When failure means a whole nation dies and it'll be sitting on your shoulders for the rest of your short, miserable life.

" **Take someone with you.** " He knows that she is confused by the raise of her eyebrows. **"You cannot go alone and I already have a partner. It's a social event, after all.** "

He's not sure what time she's coming from, but this should be common knowledge at least.

Robin thinks about it for a second and he sees it in her eyes that she is not sure what to do. So he catalogues the Strawhats and decides for her.

" **Someone looking more human. No matter the diversity here, there will be too many questions if the skeleton or the raccoon shows up.** "

She nods and thinks again, decision even harder to make if that is possible. He sighs gravelly.

" **Boys or girls?** "

Her head tilts to the side and she is close to a scowl, but he does not have time to let her dwindle with such insignificant matters as to which crewmate to choose to suffer with them through a horrible night filled with too many chatting old men.

He knows she's hesitating. " **Boys?** "

It comes out as a question, but he'll take what he can.

If it's boys then-

" **Long nose looks too much like a bunny and the robot stands out** _ **way**_ **over the limit, so we'll take the green haired one. Dangerous enough and he can use his swords in case of an all out disaster.** "

He waits two more seconds for a protest, but Robin shrugs, unconcerned. And so the matter is settled.

* * *

"Where are we going, old man?" Luffy shifts his eyes from the small speck of land that is Raftel in the distance.

Not even on the island for a full three days and he is already leaving. The pirate isn't sure why, but he feels pretty sad and suddenly homesick which is strange since the homesickness for the Sunny has already dulled by their increasingly long stay here. And the island has not offered much in the sense of a home, but he likes it there anyways.

Luffy sees Linus' grandfather look up from his super mysterious charts written in that funny language of theirs, but instead of answering his question he looks at Sanji's slumped from next to him at the railing.

"A little more and you can swim with the fishes, boy."

The cook gives a shiver-like shrug, but never takes his eyes off the horizon. Linus' grandpa snorts and huffs like all old men do, Luffy knows. He feels impatience take a hold of him, but knows that by being insistent he will not accomplish anything with this man. He sometimes is like his own grandpa, sometimes he is completely different, but he doubts that Linus' grandpa would appreciate a bout of whining. Maybe it's supposed to be a mystery and he will find out when they arrive.

"What's your name, old man?" Luffy decides to change the subject, if only to find something to do. They took the first boat out of the island and until now they have yet to hit the hour mark if Luffy's estimation is right. He hopes it's not long now.

Linus' grandpa looks up again from the squiggles on the yellowed paper and puckers his lips funnily. Oh, he is onto Luffy for sure.

"My name doesn't matter."

Luffy blinks. "Oh, all right. I will keep calling you old man then."

The man does not fall for the taunting.

"Yeah, you do that. I know I'm old, but it's good to be reminded." Linus' grandpa is sometimes too serious for Luffy's taste. He starts preferring his crazy ass grandpa over this old man now.

"Don't worry, Luffy. It's not long now before we get there."

"Where is _there_ , exactly?"

Seems like Sanji is awake and not depressed anymore. The cook is in the middle of lighting himself a cigarette, one of his eyes covered by strands of hair and the other glaring hotly at their abductor.

"We are going to see Pluton." The old man announces nonchalantly.

Sanji seems to be chocking, but Luffy is confused now because he feels like he has heard that name before, but the memory evades his mind right now.

"And why would you show your powerful warship to a couple of 'continentals'?" Sanji makes air quotes with his fingers as he asks petulantly.

Linus' grandpa guffaws a laugh that is full of incredulity. "Because it seems you even know what it is!" The man bites his lowers lip and studies them thoroughly.

Luffy hears Sanji whisper a curse behind the butt of his cigarette, but he thinks that it's good. Knowing things around here is fine, they can help without being too clueless. They can be saving people now that they are up and running with this information, the old man can tell them of his plans and maybe they will manage to help them win against the corrupted Celestial Dragons.

"You kids know many things and nothing. It's high time you get on the same wave as everyone else. I'm used by now to the idea that you are here to help and not smuggle information to those bastards. And I hope that's really the case!"

He shouts the next part and Luffy struggles not to wince and give him more doubts about their intentions. But no matter what he does, he cannot shake the image of his own grandpa, eyes full of distrust, watching them like a hawk, throwing them crumbs of information that might make sense if they behave like they should.

Linus' grandpa draws to his full height and glowers down at them for a moment, before the corners of his lips pull upwards.

"So I will entrust you with this. And hope that the king's right." The last part is mumbled and he gets back to his map, but Luffy doesn't mind.

In front of them, an island is slowly taking shape. Its rocks jut in all directions and smoke is everywhere even above their heads at this distance. Luffy watches as the water slowly becomes cluttered with large pieces of metallic debris that seem to be all parts of a ship.

"You should have taken our shipwright. He'd be more interested in all of this." Sanji flicks his smoke as he too studies the rapidly changing landscape.

"He will have his time here too, don't you worry. Right now I need the captain and the strategist." The old man smirks like it's a victory, but Luffy doesn't know what to say about that. There's no victory yet and he knows that Sanji knows that too. And that his friend is now ever more burdened by the notion that he will probably have to have a say in some plan that might decide the future of this civilization.

And Sanji grits his teeth and almost breaks his cigarette in half, but abstains at the last moment and swears that he will not let himself be thrown around like a fucking puppet anymore. He didn't sign up for deciding shit, most of all war plans.

"Tough luck, old man."

Luffy grins and Linus' grandpa grunts and lets the silence of their surroundings take over.

* * *

"And I have to be dressed like that _because_?" Zoro eyes the flowing robe critically. Zoro eyes everything that comes with it critically, but he tries his best for Robin and only asks about the robe. He can't come across as a spoiled little shit anyway.

Linus' lips thin until they almost disappear, but he still does not answer Zoro and he remembers that he doesn't have any clue what he just said. Well shit, now he's going to have to be a spoiled little shit in another language. Great.

" **Why. That. Dress?** " His words pertain disdain and unwillingness.

Linus finally seems to get it. " **It is a formal party. You have to blend in.** "

The guy makes some movement with his hands that might have something to do with what he just said, but Zoro can't be sure.

"Come now, Zoro. It's not up for discussion, believe me." Robin says from the doorway and Zoro's eyebrows climb on his forehead.

Her dress is two pieces with a short top without shoulders, but just a beginning of sleeves and it does not cover her abdomen. The skirt touches the ground and glitter seems to be sewn into it to make it sparkle. It has at least three layers of a soft, cotton-like green that in the right light is only hues on white, shining stars. She's braided her hair and pulled it into a really intricate looking bun. At least from his point of view. He feels like she's another person without her long strands falling over her shoulders. Instead, a pearl necklace hangs around her neck with assorted white pearls in her ears. Zoro does not remember ever seeing her wearing earrings before.

His eye stops on the teasing smile she wears and he sighs wearily.

"I didn't know these people wanted us to match dresses." His comment earns him a small laugh, and he knows Linus is watching them through narrowed eyes.

Robin opens her mouth, no doubt to convince him to start changing and he knows it's getting late, but his mind wanders to the question he has been asking himself since Linus and Robin returned to their room alone. Why did _he_ have to suffer through a round of whatever this shit is supposed to be? And dressed like that, now that he thinks about it.

A hand encloses around his forearm.

"I need all the moral support I can get right now." Robin half-jokes, but he knows that she is brimming with nervous energy. It is obvious from the way she shifts in place to the very quavering set of her shoulders and Zoro has never seen her like that either.

He starts changing robotically, unmindful of Linus clicking his tongue behind. He isn't sure where to place his robes because the room is barely a broom closet and only holds a mirror and a light bulb on the ceiling so he hands them to Robin and starts trying to figure out how to put the damned thing on. It's like a very long dress shirt that goes a little past his knees. He stops, feeling completely stupid with his legs all naked and visible under that shit. Even the clothes that he has worn until now had covered his legs until his ankles. He has never not worn _pants_ for God's sake and now he is left hoping that his boots will cover the rest but unfortunately they don't.

"Well shit. I look like a freaking Okama!" Zoro's growls reflexively, ready to throw this shit excuse of a cloth in a fire and find something much more suitable for him, but Robin extends her hand.

There is a pair of white pants in her hand and Zoro stops himself from shouting a big I love you to her. Instead he smiles gratefully in her direction before directing a smug smirk in Linus' direction. The man looks suitably scandalized and Zoro revels in the feeling as much as he does when the pants are fitted and good to go under the long, dark blue dress shirt.

"Where did you get-"

Robin's hands appear out of nowhere and tie his red sash around his middle and Zoro swears that he looks very fashionable even though he's never cared about such things.

One corner of her mouth is up and her eyes sparkle in mischief. "I had a feeling that their traditional clothing will be a little too extravagant for you."

He hopes his gratefulness is conveying through his eye because if he says anything more he knows things will become a little too awkward for his taste. His eye scans his appearance critically and an idea pops in his mind. He unties the thick piece of red material, places it over her shoulders and considers it for a moment.

Robin lifts an eyebrow at his approving smile.

"It fits you better." Zoro shrugs like it's no big deal, though something at the corner of his mind votes otherwise. He ignores it like it's no big deal either.

Linus is watching almost too patiently.

" **Where now?** " Zoro already wants this to be over and done with.

Linus fights a smile as he pushes himself off the wall.

" **To the palace, of course.** "

* * *

Lunch was a silent affair. They've been ushered to one small dining room which is probably used more for those who work for the Monkey family. The mountain of food told them otherwise in the sense of their welcome here, so Usopp figured it must have looked pretty funny for five people to eat in a big room and they were reassigned. And the sniper swears this was one depressing lunch.

Usopp watches Nami's foot tap the ground in a steady rhythm and he wonders how it hasn't made any dent in the wooden floor yet. Granted, the intricate looking carpet that probably costs half their ship is muffling the sound, thank heavens. But that does not mean their navigator's anxiousness is not exuding from every pore of the poor woman. She looks close to having a break down and Usopp cannot handle a hysteric Nami on top of everything.

Thankfully, Franky realizes it too.

" _Yow_ Nami! What do you say we take a good look around?"

Nami startles and seems surprised by their presences.

"You heard what Linus said." She hesitates and Usopp hates how predictable she has become. "We should not leave the room." Her lips are pulled taut and he sees the moment the avalanche of thoughts consuming her tries to take over again.

"C'mon, Nami!" The sniper bursts out loudly, unaware that his tone is a little too loud, a little too forceful to be entirely nonchalant. The red head raises an eyebrow in askance. Usopp plows on.

"The old guy isn't here anymore and so is Linus. This might be our only chance!"

Nami opens her mouth to retort his statement, refuse and maybe tell him that he's an idiot for overstepping their welcome here, but Chopper pipes in. His voice is shaky and soft and Usopp hasn't heard it like that in a really long time.

"M-maybe it's better to get our minds off things?" The small reindeer frets, shifts in his seat and tries to occupy himself with anything else as he says these words. "A walk outside would be perfect."

It is obvious that the small doctor is desperate for fresh air.

"Yohoho! Indeed, Nami-san. I believe that this is a good chance to explore the place more in depth and learn as much as we can." Brook heaves a heavy sigh as he sits down next to Nami and places a hand over her shoulder.

Nami sinks into his side, grateful for the support.

"I'm afraid that a war will be on top of us soon." Franky's words bring the general mood down a couple of notches. He crosses his arms with a grim downturn of the lips. "And at the end we'll have to remember this. Just as it is."

Nami feels the unrestrained force of a shiver shake her body and she tries oh so hard to not start crying. She fears Chopper will go down with her. Instead, she tries to breathe, to calm her heart, to regain some semblance of clarity and promises herself. Promises that if she will ever be able to complete a world map, Raftel in all its glory will be there as well, in vivid detail and not some shroud of ruins that stands atop the most searched for treasure cove in the world. Decimated by hundreds of years of loneliness and shattered dreams. She has to give Raftel the justice it deserves and that means thinking in this past time present.

With an almighty surge of energy she has long thought lost, Nami stands up rigidly. Brook watches her with concern in his nonexistent gaze, but she only has eyes for the door and the wonders beyond it.

"Alright, boys. Let's get on with it!"

Chopper's smile is almost tangible.

Usopp exhales slowly, feeling better than he did all morning.

Franky tries to put to rest whatever is trying to bury him like it does Nami.

Brook watches his friends from the shadows and knows it will be a long time before they will all be whole again.

* * *

Zoro grinds his teeth, tries so hard not to throw himself from the highest window of this goddamn piece of gold rock that is the royal palace. The place is to die for, but whatever the hell this party is can kill you just as efficiently. But no, he has made a promise to himself and an unspoken one to Robin that he intends to keep. He is here for her and nothing else. However strong Robin might seem, even she has her limits. Zoro is partly glad that she knows when it's time to ask for help. Not like _some other time back then._

A shrill laugh almost makes him drop the glass and take out his swords. As it is, he is holding onto it for dear life and his other hand almost clutches Robin's shawl like a lost little child, but he can't do any damn thing about it. This is unknown territory which he shouldn't have any problem with, but he does. Because his senses have been on over drive ever since stepping through that damn arcade that is the entrance.

Either royalty makes him queasy or something is seriously wrong here. Or both.

"Zoro, please calm down." Robin's soft tones travel through the empty space between them and he blinks. And takes another look around at the ongoing party.

People are dancing without a care, like there isn't supposed to be any fucking war coming. Booze is flowing, which might be the only good thing, but Zoro cannot enjoy it with almost every pair of eyes fixed on them.

Either Robin is killing that outfit or some really bad bastards are onto them. Or both and maybe it has something to do with his outfit too.

"I know, Zoro." He knows he just took another step toward Robin, but he needs a tether or he'll start killing people. But Robin said that they have to make a good impression so she will just have to deal with the fact that he's almost glued to her side.

Thankfully, Robin knows how to play it smooth and she lets him cling to her as he tries a thousand calming techniques. But none of them works and he almost flips.

" **I see you brought a couple of friends, Linus.** " A woman speaks and Zoro turns and fights hard not to let his jaw fall.

She's holding Linus' hand and the smug bastard seems pretty comfortable about it. Her appearance doesn't give anything off at first – she is beautiful in terms of physical appearance and seems nice enough to be grouped with the good girls, a group that he can admit to never really taken an interest in. His piracy aside, most nice girls are usually running in the other direction when they see him.

He is surprised that she's so intimate with Linus which in turn means that the bastard has decided to exclude this piece of juicy information. And he'll be damned to let the opportunity pass.

Beside him, Robin has an eyebrow raised, already poised to ask the question. Linus grinds his teeth and she stops because the answer is incoming.

" **This is my wife.** " With that said, his mouth seals as tightly as that pervert cook's packaged meals.

Zoro's eye twitches, but he abstains, taken aback when the black haired woman by Linus' side bursts in a myriad of foreign words that leave him dizzy in their wake. The energy that woman exudes is extraordinary and he is speaking from the experience of dealing with Luffy. He just never would have pictured Linus and his ever serious tones being with someone so open and bright.

He clears his throat and looks around in search of anything else of interest besides the waterfall of words. Thank God Robin takes the bullet for him too. He'd rather drown than try to maintain some semblance of a polite chat.

Zoro's eye stops on the top steps of the raised marble platform. That Ace clone is clinging to his bride rather comically, though the woman in question does not seem to mind. She's a surprising sight from her blonde white hair to the bluish-purple eyes, though Zoro thinks the color palette is just right for her supposed mythical Zoan powers. What little he has gathered from Robin's swift explanation while the vows were exchanged pointed to this woman holding the Phoenix powers. One of the rarest of all, so this marriage is quite an expected affair. He's curious if they are exactly like Marco's of the Whitebeard pirates though he doubts that, seeing as these people hold an altogether different reign over their powers.

The king is talking back animatedly but the queen seems continuously bored.

Zoro's seen her wearing the same face throughout the day's ceremonies even though they've left even the ever indifferent swordsman impressed. First the evening began with a traditional dance after which the vows were exchanged along with a pretty nice demonstration of the newlyweds' powers. After deafening applause, the substantial throng of people migrated from the freshly trimmed inner garden of the palace inside the golden building. The reception room was ten times the size of the garden and the official ballroom for the event is twenty more times it. Which left Zoro with a feeling quite like claustrophobia, but somehow on the opposite. More dances and two official tastings later, the party established itself into a rhythm and once things have somehow calmed down, Zoro's senses went into overdrive.

Robin's strained, but polite laugh interrupts his musings. He looks back and sees Linus' fiancé lean toward Robin to whisper conspiratorially.

" **So how did you two meet?** "

Even without the aid of higher powers or specific knowledge about this language, Zoro can somehow guess by the passing blanch of Robin's face and Linus' slightly open mouth and expression quickly morphing into horror that everything has been _way_ misunderstood. It takes only one second, but Robin usually operates in less so he's not taken by surprise when she straightens her back and her mouth curves into a smile. Her hand catches his forearm in a grip tighter than Kaido's, he's sure, and her nails dig into his skin in a silent warning as the rest of his body has no choice but to follow lest he wants to lose an arm. By this time, Zoro is amazed how far behind his mind is while his body is pressed against Robins'. He barely has time to blink before Robin is three sentences deep into whatever story she's made up.

Zoro abstains from sighing and instead clears his suddenly dry throat and adjusts himself into a more comfortable position. It seems that he's going to have to keep pretending for the rest of the night and this is just his shit luck, but at least he'll have something else to occupy his mind with.

So he smoothes his expression into a half-bored half-interested one so he can be not too impolite, but uninterested enough and places his hand on her hip.

Linus' _wife_ laughs at something Robin says and looks up at him, a question on her face, but Zoro is so out of it he can never begin to guess the answer. He sees Linus behind her, mouthing some gibberish and Zoro does not even try to understand. It's hard enough when there are sounds involved. Understanding their gibberish shit without the necessary volume is outright impossible. So he figures he will just have to improvise.

Robin shifts a little under the added weight of his head on her shoulder, but he tries to be inconspicuous and silently thanks Linus for the added distraction. Or at least the will to try using one. It seems like his wife has a one track mind.

"Do I have to smile and agree with something?" He mouths as close to Robin's ear as he can without it being entirely obvious.

Robin makes a noncommittal sound in the back of her throat and shoots another phrase in the foreign language before she nods imperceptibly and Zoro almost sighs in relief.

He lifts his head up a little bit, looks at the black haired woman before them with a small upturn of the lips and nods his head, offhandedly feeling like his life depends on it.

Linus' wife brightens up like a small patch of sun in a curtain of clouds and turns to talk with Linus. Zoro hopes they are back in the safe zone, but he opts to keep an eye on the strange woman anyway.

Another five minutes pass in which he thankfully does not have to answer anything else before Linus' wife takes her leave with another random member of Luffy's surprisingly numerous clan. She kisses Robin on both cheeks and him only on one before she pecks her husband on the lips and waves goodbye.

Linus looks like he's holding his breath and when he exhales his whole persona seems to deflate along with it.

" **I am truly sorry for this.** " He looks uncertainly to the two pirates glued together, but Zoro thinks it's a little too late for excuses. All's over and done with now.

Robin does not seem at all perturbed by what has transpired in what can be described as one of the most nerve wrecking situations for the swordsman.

" **I am surprised that you did not tell your wife anything, Linus.** " Robin smiles patiently, obviously willing the other man to answer.

Now that he is truly trying paying attention, Zoro understands most of what they say.

" **Or that you have one.** " He adds accusingly.

Linus cringes, but does nothing to deny their accusations. " **I only wish to not burden her with this. Our time is short as it is.** "

Zoro feels Robin stiffen and it makes his grip on her tighten in response.

" **What do you mean?** "

Robin's shaky voice still manages to take Zoro aback. This trip has been nothing but a train wreck for all of them and now they find themselves in the middle of a disaster worse than anything they've ever faced before. A madman trying to kill a country? Sure, but an entirely super powerful culture being wiped out from any and all records seems way worse. Especially when the Celestial Dragons are involved.

He feels Linus' gaze on him, but it's only there for a fleeting moment.

" **You will be informed shortly.** " His clipped answer does not help things, but neither would whining, Zoro is sure. " **For now I suppose you will have to go along with this cover.** " He gestures vaguely to the two of them and this time Zoro really groans out loud.

Robin's shoulders are shaking and he pinches her side, a smug smirk on his face at her yelp. The revenge hit in his stomach is totally expected.

"Do I have to keep pretending that I know the language, too?" He asks no one in particular.

Robin takes a moment to discuss this with Linus and the response is unexpectedly favorable.

" **The king knows you are not from around here. So it's fine.** " The official looks to the raised platform and Zoro follows. He spies Sappho up there along with Draco and his side-kick with the light powers.

"Huh, would you look at that." Zoro finds himself saying and Robin hums in agreement as she looks to the scientist and the strange woman holding hands.

" **Master Linus.** " A man dressed in servant robes announces his presence and gestures to the left, toward the lush green, double doors that lead inside the palace. " **Your presence is required, sir.** "

Linus seems to have been waiting for this as he nods without hesitation and flashes them a look that clearly states that they should follow him.

Zoro sighs tiredly and consoles himself with the fact that this night might be cut short if the impending discussion will carry out smoothly. But then again, smooth sailing was never part of their lives to begin with.

* * *

The room turns out to be as depressingly big as the rest of the other spaces inside this marble block of architecture, but at least it has many windows and it's sparsely furnished. The wooden table travels the length of the room from one pair of doors to the other and the ceiling is painted a dark blue night with stars and a silver disk as the moon staring disapprovingly down at them. The floor is tile that reflects the image above their heads perfectly, enclosing the room in a perfect night bubble that makes Zoro yawn.

He abstains admirably well, but still wants nothing more than to plop down on those comfortable looking chairs. Unfortunately, Robin stops at the head of the table and he almost trips, but when he skids to a halt he's still standing and his hold on her does not break. Zoro smirks proudly, but Robin's elbow collides with his gut and it's not an accident for sure.

Zoro notices the warning and looks up, locks eyes with Sappho's shockingly serious one before his gaze travels the line and stops on the king. The man is smiling a little too widely in light of the reason they are here in the first place.

The queen sighs and turns her head to the door they came in from, clearly looking for someone.

" **I suppose we should begin anyway. Amon will be here shortly.** " The king's voice is strong and rough, flowing steadily as his words echo.

They move closer behind the servant that brought them here to the other head of the table. Linus taps his shoulder just as they arrive and gestures him to a chair which Zoro takes gratefully, but not before receiving an approving nod from Robin.

The woman slides in the chair next to him and Linus in the closest one to the king.

" **Please excuse our late arrival.** " Amon announces as he guides his wife through the doorway.

Zoro raises an eyebrow at the sudden manners the guy from this morning seems to have gained. He looks at Linus' serious face and decides to refrain from placing any bets right now.

Now that everyone is seated, the air in the room drops down to suffocating levels and Zoro silently thanks any deity out there for the open windows.

" **Let us cut to the chase.** " The king announces, rising to his feet. His eyes pass over Zoro before he rests them on Robin and Zoro sees her posture straighten from the corner of his eye.

He stops himself from jutting out a comforting hand and instead crosses his arms and leans back into his surprisingly uncomfortable chair.

" **A continental envoy was reported to have departed from their capital.** " The king speaks without much preamble.

Zoro freezes in the process of closing his eye.

Robin clears her throat and opens her mouth to speak, but Sappho cuts her off.

" **It feels truly ironic that the war is coming to us.** "

" **You have no idea, youngling.** "

A new, scratchy voice rasps and only then does Zoro see that another, simple door has opened. It is painted in the same color as the rest of the wall, so it blends wonderfully well with the ambiance. Zoro tries to berate himself for letting his guard so down, but he stops because now is not the time for more self-deprecation induced issues.

The man is old, Zoro's guess is that he is older than Brook and he hopes that this human sack of bones is not going to fall into a heap on the ground while they are in the general vicinity. With their luck, who knows what these distrustful people might conjure up as a way to bury them alive. Flanking him are a twelve year old kid, a woman with red skin and a blonde haired guy. He seems to be the only normal one in the group, seeing as the kid looks capable of skinning someone and the woman is looking morose enough to be able to cry her way through this meeting without breaking much of a sweat.

" **They want to bury us here and wipe every trace of our existence.** " The little kid says, climbing easily on top of the table and sitting cross legged on its other end. The rest of his companions fan themselves around him, none making any move to sit down.

" **What can we do to help?** " Robin seems a little too desperate for Zoro's taste, but he thinks the question is appropriate enough if they are going to be playing the part of helpful pirates to this big and powerful nation.

" **Nothing.** " The red skinned woman snivels out the word and wipes her nose in a way that is not so much mannered as impressive, Zoro will grant her that.

" **We have an appropriate plan, of course.** " The king hastens to assure since his wife seems to be on her way to strangling the strange group at the other end of the room.

" **Indeed. And you will be a big part of it.** " The normal guy picks at his nails as he speaks and Zoro gets it now that this group is not at all near the definition of normal.

" **There will be a ship departing from Atlantis. And you will be on it, guarding it.** " The old man crawls his way through the explanation and Zoro waits with baited breath and morbid fascination for the moment the last swish of air will leave that old man. Shockingly, it doesn't yet.

" **Please excuse my discourtesy,** " Robin chokes out and Zoro's eyebrow climbs up at the freakish word she just pronounced, " **but I assumed that we will have taken part in this war to help you.** "

The king's face splits into a grin. Amon sighs and rests his head in his hands.

" **We already know that everything we've built here will be lost.** " The prince's words echo off the walls and Zoro feels very powerless in the face of what is to come. " **Quick question, Robin.** "

The archaeologist looks at Amon curiously.

" **None of you did quite know what was going on when you arrived on Raftel, no?** "

Robin's lips downturn immediately at his words. Even if answer enough, Zoro throws his few cents in the conversation before things escalate out of his language levels.

" **No.** "

Many blink at seeing him talking, but he tries not to make a big deal out of being assigned the title of grunt. His glare cannot be helped, though.

" **Because our civilization is obviously gone.** " Kallisto smiles sadly. Her voice turns out to be soft and mellow and Zoro shifts in his seat restlessly. " **But even so, we will do everything we can to save even a small part of it.** "

Her blue eyes are full of determination and the swordsman decides that the newly-made princess isn't so bad after all.

" **And you did!** "

Zoro's head turns toward the shout, unused to seeing his crewmate expressing herself in such a manner. Usually she'd be an oasis of calm, but Robin's eyes are shining now that a new piece of the puzzle is placed in its rightful place.

Everyone gathered around the table is throwing her dubious looks, but Zoro is there for moral support. So he nods. And adds conviction on his face while he's at it.

Robin smiles when she finally manages to unveil this important part of history.

" **There are still people bearing your roots.** "

The queen and the princess gasp softly, one looking shocked while the other is bursting with excitement.

" **In our time,** " Robin begins, her eyes on her idling hands and her mind lost in the ocean of information struggling to obtain a semblance of sense, " **the people that are most probably connected to this civilization are bearing the name of D.** "

" **D.?!** " Linus is too stunned for someone who's known Luffy for so much time. He should have made the connection by now, Zoro thinks. But seeing as the guy is Luffy's relative, the swordsman is not nearly so scandalized by this.

Robin nods and her gaze lifts, passing by every face, cataloging.

" **There are no more people with inbred powers such as yours. They are only acquired through Devil Fruits.** "

" **And can anyone eat them?** "The little kid asks.

" **Yes.** " Robin nods, brows furrowed. " **I am not a D. and neither are many others. But people holding this initial have eaten Devil Fruits as well.** "

Sappho nods in agreement with her explanation and Zoro has a blank moment as he remembers that the blond is there, too.

" **But what does this D. mean?** " The queen questions, fingers laced together in front of her face.

Robin shakes her head. " **We do not know yet.** "

" **How about others? How many know what has transpired in your past – our immediate future?** " The red skinned woman hisses and Zoro is tempted to cut her snake head off.

" **A handful of them.** " Again, Robin shakes her head. " **Most are dead, the others lost or refusing to speak about it.** "

" **Which is good.** " Zoro states when it seems that protests are ready to rise.

" **Indeed. The Celestial Dragons will surely hunt them down and kill them. And then wipe out anyone who was present and more, just to be sure.** " Robin's words set off a grim atmosphere that is broken when Sappho has had enough of stalling.

" **They are as ruthless as always.** " The scientist sighs. " **One thing we know for sure – their captain is a living member of the Monkey clan. This means that at least one of the clans makes it.** "

" **Are there any others?** " The king asks curiously. Zoro would have preferred that he kept his mouth shut. He shoots Robin a look, but he shouldn't have bothered. That woman knows what she's doing.

" **More than a few.** " Her answer is clipped and this is all they are going to get, Zoro knows and is relieved when no one insists. Else he'll have to do something about it.

" **Good!** " The king booms and his grin is positively radiating. " **Then we will proceed as planned.** **Sappho,** " dark eyes fix on the best scientist on the island, " **you have one week to finish the Devil Fruits project. The Poneglyphs are all in place and Uranus is ready.** "

" **Out of all the Ancient Weapons – as we name them – Uranus is the most mysterious. What is it?** " Robin watches from the corner of her eye their reaction. Or lack thereof.

Finally, Sappho ruffles his locks in a desperate attempt at not answering, but finds himself doing so anyway. Damn time travelling pirates and their need to know everything.

" **It's a device placed inside the island.** "

His clipped answer is for naught. Since Robin is too polite to insist, Zoro takes it upon himself to clear the mystery.

" **What's it for?** "

Ignoring the surprisingly coherent sentence, Sappho catches the king's eye, silently asking for permission to disclose their biggest and most secret project. The monarch does not seem disinclined to protest so he takes it as a yes.

" **In short,** " Sappho wiggles his index finger in the air, a smug smirk on his face, **"it will make Raftel disappear.** "

Robin feels like the gong of doom has just sounded for them.

" **We cannot allow our technology to fall in the hands of the continentals. We'd rather bury it in the ocean forever.** " The old man rattles and Zoro wonders how he can stay upright for so long.

" **And you did. For a while.** " Robin fights back another grin and Zoro is sort of put out by the string of revelations that seem to flow in this conversation. Granted, he does not understand everything that is said, but he understands enough.

" **What do you mean?** " Kallisto looks as confused as Amon feels in that moment.

" **Someone has already found Raftel in our time.** " Robin explains patiently. " **And for that Gol D. Roger was crowned the Pirate King.** "

" **So the Gol family line survives too, huh.** " Amon exhales in relief and the rest of his family looks not far from that either.

Zoro knows Robin doesn't have it in her to break them the news and he cannot express himself in so many complicated words either, so he lets it slide. It won't make any kind of difference anyway.

" **How did he find it with Uranus active?** " The old man chokes again, this time with some serious spit flying as he speaks. Zoro pities the damn table.

" **But of course there is a way!** " Sappho exclaims, offended at their supposition. " **I have made a fail safe for anyone knowledgeable enough of our language.** " He grins enigmatically.

" **The four Road Poneglyphs as they are named in our time.** " Robin smirks as she delivers the end to the scientist's fun. " **Gathered together and understood, they pinpoint the location of the four islands surrounding Raftel and furthermore, Raftel's exact location. They are the ultimate prize in the race our crew is running against every other pirate in the world.** "

" **Sounds not fun.** " Amon whistles and stretches his arms. " **Good luck on that, too.** " He turns to his father with a pensive look. " **I suppose this might be all of interest for now?** "

The king nods after a moment of thought.

" **Your crew, Robin, will be in charge of protecting the ship that will escape to the bottom of the ocean right when the fight begins. We will draw them out of your way, but far enough from Raftel as well. The four islands surrounding the capital will have a major role to play.** " The royal paused, leaning back in his chair. " **For now gather you friends, your forces and learn as much as you can. We expect anything to happen in this war.** "

Zoro nods along with Robin and they stand up with the others. A few farewells later, they are walking behind Linus back to the compound. And the swordsman cannot say if he is relieved that they have a chance to get the hell out of this war or angry that no one even thought to address the issue of them having to return back to their time. As much as Zoro is willing to fight in wars, he does not see why he should fight in _this_ war.

This is _their_ war – Linus' and Sappho's and whoever else's. There is no way that he is going to lay down his life for a thousand year old cause that is doomed to fail anyway. They need to know their way out of here before anything else so they can plan accordingly. Implications be damned, he's getting their crew out of there even if Luffy is not willing to abandon this mission at the cost of being killed. In that moment, he'll have to kill Luffy himself for being so damned stupid and selfish.

"The biggest problem is that we do not even know what events our presence here has set in motion and which not." Robin whispers to the twilight airand he refrains from grimacing. She reads him too well sometimes. "We have to be careful, Zoro."

She turns her head and he knows she's watching him carefully, but he does not have anything else to say other than, "As long as we have a way to get out of here, I will fight. But until I know we've got the means to save our asses from a fight that's not ours, I'm not going to unsheathe any of my swords, Robin."

His tone might have been a tad bit harsher than intended, but he glares at Linus until the guy has turned back around.

"I will make sure we have one." She tries for a smile, but exhaustion is written on her face. "Don't worry."

Zoro huffs and crosses his arms. He does not speak again the rest of the way.

This war is already damned to be lost. There is no ever after for Raftel, but there is one for the Strawhat pirates. Waiting for them over nine hundred years into the future.

Zoro is only concerned for their ever after and its consequences like any other sensible pirate is inclined to be. Someone has to, anyway.

* * *

 **A/N: This is as far as I managed to write for the bigbang so it's the last chapter unfortunately. I already began the second part, but it's going to take a while. Fear not, when I finish it, I will post it promptly!**

 **I hope you enjoyed the mounting tension XD**

 **Please tell me your thoughts!**

 **See ya!**

 **Don't forget to R &R! **


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